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Real Moms Talk About The Spice Depot

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The lovely people at The Spice Depot sent me a few of their Grinder Top Spice Blends to try. The minute I received them I was intrigued and ultimately fell in love with them.  They are easy to use & provide fresh spices with every use.  I received Spicy Sea Salt, JoJo Potato and Salad Seasoning

These nifty little spice bottles have a grinder incorporated right into the tops of the bottle essentially giving you the ability to have “fresh” spice with the flick of your wrist.

I adore cooking with spices and the blends I was able to try were well put together and enhanced my dishes with fresh flavors.

An incredibly simple but tasty meal I cooked for my family was a simple tilapia.  I placed a little olive oil on a baking sheet, placed the fish on top and used the freshly ground Spicy Sea Salt right on top.  The result was a lovely fish dish that every member of my family from age 1 to the adults enjoyed.

The Spice Depot Grinders can be purchased locally at your neighborhood Walmart.  I am personally cleaning out my spice cabinet and replacing almost everything with my new favorite spices.  Yes, they are really that good.

You can find some really great recipes in The Spice Depot Recipes

From their site:

All-natural, always fresh-ground flavor each and every time. Each twist of the spice bottle top’s built-in grinder releases essential oils and aromatic flavors and essences locked deep within the fresh-dried spice pieces. Always Grind Fresh™

WINNER: Baba from http://babasfarmlife.blogspot.com/

The Spice Depot has graciously offered to giveaway a set of 3 assorted spice grinders to one of our readers.

How Can You Win?:  Visit The Spice Depot take a look around.  Come back and leave a comment to let us know which spice you’d like to try the most and sign up for their newsletter.

Want Extra Entries: SimplyStumble, Twitter, FaceBook or Blog about the giveaway and leave a link  to your post, tweet, etc.  in our comments section.

When Does It End?:  You have until Midnight on Monday, April 20, 2009.

The winner will be notified via email so please be sure to include it or your entry will be disqualified.  The winner will have 3 days to claim their prize.  If we have not heard from the winner by then an alternater winner will be chosen.

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Real Moms Talk About Bella Sara Treasures & Miniatures

We love Bella Sara at my house and thanks to the Team Mom we got the chance to review a couple of their newest products:

Bella Sara Treasures

Each Treasures card pack contains 5 random horse and/or treasure cards, a random sticker card, a random tattoo card, a mini-game, a card checklist, online codes, and positive messages.

My daughter immediately opened up the packages to oohs & ahhs and carried them around the house showing everyone for day.

Included in our package were

Bella Sara Miniatures

Each Bella Sara Miniature Pack comes with a random velvety horse, a code to receive a digital prize at BellaSara.com, and a colorful checklist so you can check of the miniatures as you collect them.

These little miniatures were an even bigger hit than the trading cards.  My daughter carried them around for days and got really distressed when they were misplaced for a few days – at just over an inch they are really easy to lose.  We eventually put them on the shelf to admire to avoid the return of tear.

Every time we go to our local Target store we have to stop and admire the Bella Sara display

Connected to the online world of Bella Sara the trading cards and miniatures are sure to be a favorite gift for the little girls in your life.

Thanks again to Bella Sara and Team Mom for making this review possible.

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Real Moms Talk About Author Leslie Patricelli

A Real Mom Review by Tracy Roberts.

I was very fortunate to receive copies of 2 of Leslie Patricelli’s books to review.

Higher! Higher!

The sky’s not limit in a witty picture book about a child on a wing & the wonders of the imagination (ages 2-5 retail $15.99)

and

Baby Happy, Baby Sad

A playful look at a pair of emotions that are a part of every baby’s day (ages 1-3; retail $6.99)

The books were perfect for my 15 mo & 3 1/2 yr olds.  Both were able to sit down & enjoy the colorful illustrations and my oldest had the wonderful chance to actually “read” Higher! Higher! (one of 2 words in the book ) but she had a a great time “reading” to her little brother.

Baby Happy, Baby Sad was fun for my little one and the thick, board-like pages made them great teething material.

Leslie Patricelli is the author/illustrator of 7 children’s books.  Her artwork is engaging and just plain fun to look at.  The main character of all her books is a diaper-clad baby – cute as can be!

I would recommend any of Leslie’s books for young children and anticipate many happy hours reading these books with my children.

Thanks to TeamMom for making this review possible

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Real Moms Talk About MyMMs.com

Moms Central and MyMMs.com recently gave us the opportunity to review their site and ordering processes by allowing us to create our own customized M & Ms – Read our Mom’s New Year 09 Bonanza Kick Off post if you’d like to have a bag of our creations for yourself .

Once you’re on the site you have the option of choosing your color combination and you can even include a personalized message or  favorite photograph.

They make ordering a simple process and you are able to see a representation of the finished product prior to ordering.

MyMMs.com doesn’t just have M & Ms they have a wonderful assortment of gift items that would be perfect to send along with the yummy candy covered chocolate bites.

These personalized M & Ms would be great as birthday treats, at a wedding reception, as a proposal, for valentine’s day…almost any occasion.

At $13.99 for a 7 oz bag they aren’t a cheap gift but they do get less expensive if you purchase multiple bags or in bulk.  Still, they are a thoughtful gift and you almost hate to eat them up.

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Real Moms Talk About: Barbie And The Diamond Castle

A lot of women in my generation grew up on Barbie – and many of us, like me, swore we wouldn’t have them for our girls. They are unrealistic and didn’t portray the type of role model we wanted for our girls. Inevitably, as we started having girls, Barbie made her way in anyway. She’s popular, she’s pretty and girls love her!

So of course, while my girls don’t have a lot of Barbie stuff – when the Barbie movies started coming out they were excited and I was leary. I was pleasantly surprised. The first Barbie movie we watched was wonderful – the graphics and quality was great, and the story line was fabulous.

The more recent movie we’ve seen was Barbie and the Diamond Castle and like the previous Barbie movies, we enjoyed it a lot. The movie follows two friends who find a girl trapped in a mirror and after losing their home, they go on a mission to rescue the girl and save everyone.

Through-out the movie there are great lessons mixed in on forgiveness, friendship and knowing what’s really important – money or friendship. Barbie shows girls that being beautiful is about being kind, being a good friend, and being honest and trustworthy. Through her movies, Barbie has definitely become a much better role model for our girls.

I definitely recommend Barbie and the Diamond Castle. Even though Christmas is already done, I also recommend Barbie in a Christmas Carol. AMAZING!

Watch this for some more great Barbie movie previews:)

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Real Moms Talk About Stride Rite Early Walkers

Once again we have the opportunity to share another great item with you courtesy of Stride Rite with a special thanks to TwitterMoms for the heads-up.

We were sent a pair of size 5 Stride Rite Early Walkers - adorable little monkey shoes (the little flap on the back says cheeky monkey).  Nathan wasn’t sure if he wanted to wear them or play with them.  He just turned 1 but started walking a couple months ago. We’ve been keeping it easy for him with bare feet and/or socks because he had a hard time walking in shoes. As soon as we put the Early Walkers on him, we noticed that they were a lot easier for him to walk in as he wasn’t always tripping over his toes.

From the site:

He’ll go bananas over these embroidered smiling monkey shoes! Soft tan and brown suede with breathable leather linings will cushion his foot as he learns to walk through jungles. And with the comfort, protection and flexibility of Natural Motion System® technology, he’ll be ready for whatever monkey business comes his way.

• Silky suede upper with Scotchguard™ stain protection
• Natural Motion System® (NMS) technology
• Oversized opening and slide-in back tab for easy-on and easy-off
• Deep flex grooves for maximum flexibility
• Natural leather linings for comfort and breathability
• Eco-friendly materials include recycled rubber outsole, natural stitching, and water-based inks for details and logo
• Smooth outsole to upper transition

A big thanks to Stride Rite & TwitterMoms for sharing these really cool shoes.

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Real Moms Talk About Parents Critter Conga

When Team Mom told us that Parents would be sending us out some of their newest toys to review I was excited.  But it turns out that I wasn’t half as excited as 3/4 of our children.

Our youngest had his first birthday around the time we received the product so we saved it for him to open.  He loves music and we knew that Critter Conga ($30 retail) was sure to bring him years of musical fun.

Turns out when we opened it up our 1 yr old grabbed the giraffe maracas, my 3 yr old grabbed the snake drumsticks and my 12 yr old (yep, he got in on the action, too.) grabbed the antelope slide whistle and they all began to make music.

In addition, the Conga Critter comes with an elephant ocarina (whistle), a crocodile cabasa & clacker, a capuchin monkey rainstick, a twister hand drum and a 10-bell (think jingle & lots of noise) tambourine lid which doubles as the conga lid to be used with drumsticks.

Critter Conga by Parents will  be a treasured toy for all our kids for years to come.

Thank you to Team Mom & Parents for this great opportunity.

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Real Moms Talk About Baby Einstein Holiday Blog Tour

At Moms In A Blog we are continually blessed by great companies with wonderful items so we can write reviews for you to be able to make informed choices. This time Mom Central has partnered with Baby Einstein for thier Baby Einstein Holiday Blog Tour.

I received a Baby Einstein interactive package with the 10th anniversary special edition Baby Mozart DVD, the Baby Einstein Touch & Feel Baby Animal board book and the Lullaby Classics CD.

Nathan (1) and Lily (3) love Baby Einstein anything!  I popped the DVD into the player and was rewarded with 15 minutes of quiet while they watched and danced (the DVD is 28 minutes but they’re little )

Nathan’s favorite song is Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star (or ABC’s).  No matter how loud he screams or how hard he cries singing this to him always calms him down and it’s a featured song on the DVD!

He enjoyed the Touch & Feel board book almost as much.  He spent time feeling the sheep’s coat and the board pages are perfect since he likes to eat & tear paper.

Putting the Lullaby CD on at bedtime hasn’t made them fall asleep any quicker but they are enjoying listening quietly which helps them calm down enough to try.

Thanks to Mom Central and Baby Einstein for these great products.

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Real Moms Talk About BeFitMom.com Exercise After Pregnancy

Real Mom Review by Tracy Roberts

When Family Review Network told me that Helene Byrne of BeFitMom.com was looking for reviewers I knew that I had to take a look. I was especially excited because they used the words “abdominal separation” & “pelvic floor”.

It was my hope that not only would I be able to review a cool book but that I would also be able to “repair” my aging body after having 4 children – two within 3 years (3 1/2 & 1) in my 40’s.

Could I really have a normal stomach again instead of looking perpetually 8 months pregnant?  Well, after a few weeks I still look pregnant BUT (and it’s a big one ) I feel better and stronger.

The exercises are easy to do and I feel more confident in how my body is starting to look.  I think I’m pretty close to packing away my maternity shirts for good and if I get the nerve I’ll post “before” and “after” photos when I reach my goal of strengthening and slimming down.

From the site:  Helene’s unique postnatal core system, which integrates the mind/body methods of Pilates and yoga with cutting-edge fitness techniques, can be started just days after giving birth, requires no specialized exercise equipment, and is suitable for all fitness levels.

The first workout, “Postpartum Exercises” provides safe, gentle, restorative exercises that can be started just days after giving birth that are designed to speed healing from labor and delivery, relieve discomfort, and start firming up over-stretched abdominal muscles.

The second workout, “Knitting Back Together” offers a special series of exercises that flatten, shorten and strengthen the abdominals, and develops functional core strength and stability.

The third workout, “Advanced Core Strength” offers a more challenging total-body core program for women who want to build athletic strength.

Thank you to Family Review Network and Helene Byrne at BeFitMom.com for this great opportunity.

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Real Moms Talk About Bumkins

A Real Mom Review by Tracy Roberts

Mom Bloggers Club contacted me about review this uber-cute fleece bunting from Bumkins just in time for our Thanksgiving trip from Florida to Virginia.  I was looking for something to keep the baby snug and cozy and when this arrived on my doorstep I knew that it would be perfect for the cold temperatures we’d be trying to acclimate to.

Nathan is a big 11 mos old and is wearing 12-18mos.  The 12 mos size was a perfect fit for him allowing both the hands & the feet to be covered by the fold-over flaps.

From their site: Sweetly embroidered with Cat-In-The-Hat’s Thing One and Thing Two characters, our plush and fluffy bunting is made of snuggly polyester sherpa. The hood is lined with our premium cotton interlock in an adorable polka dot print, and front snaps ensure easy dressing. This lightweight, versatile fleece suit is perfect for keeping baby warm in Fall, Winter or Spring!

The bunting was easy-on, easy-off and comfortable for Nathan to walk around in.  The hood was soft and close to the head (which makes it harder for little hands to pull it off!) and the emboroidered characters Thing One and Thing Two are just adorable making this a wonderful purchase for anyone looking to keep their baby warm and comfortable.

Also included in our nifty box was a Dr. Seuss Grinch Themed SuperBib and a unbreakable Christmas ornament.

Bumkins Grinchmas Gift and Contest! With any Bumkins Dr. Seuss Purchase receive Free Grinch Superbib and automatically be entered to win a four pack of Dr.Seuss How the Grinch Stole Christmas Ornaments! Just enter grinch08 at checkout to receive your complimentary bib.

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