Lego Love & Five Family Fun Time Ideas

With Du-Jay and Sagezilla entering their 3rd week back to school, family time is at a premium.   Despite 6 hours in school a day and homework, our afternoons, evenings and weekends are still our own.


When our kids were toddlers, they loved their giant tub of giant Legos.    As the kids have grown bigger, their Legos have grown smaller.   Woo hoo.   Yet, they still ask for Legos for every birthday.    We were jazzed to discover Lego board games this past Spring.   The kids got Minotarus and Creationary as gifts and they were a huge hit.   Even our big kid and grown up friends like to play.  


 



Lego and TwitterMoms have teamed up and are asking for five of our favorite family time ideas,   Get some family time inspiration from LEGO here.

I've split our favorite family fun times into seasons. 

1.  Summer:   outdoor concerts, festivals, camping, swimming, and beach time at the lakes

2.   Fall:   apple picking, gathering local produce at farmer's markets, running corn mazes, thrift shop treasure hunting for the perfect, creative Halloween costume pieces

3.   Winter:   playing board games and reading out loud by the wood burning stove, ice skating, sledding, sharing hot cocoa

4.    Spring:   planting herbs and flowers in the yard, running our 3 dogs in the parks, and family kite flying

5.   Anytime:   creating with Legos and Lego games


Join LEGO® on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/LEGOGames

LEGO Games Challenge: www.legogameschallenge.comJoin LEGO® on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/LEGOGames

LEGO Games Challenge: www.legogameschallenge.com


For more information on how you can participate, click here.

I wrote this blog post while participating in the TwitterMoms and LEGO blogging program, making me eligible to get a prize pack

Fun With Fractures--The Cool New Way To Frame Photos

There's a new product for all you shutterbugs out there.   I'm hoping to be one of the first 100 Twitter Moms to post, so I can check out a review copy and  tell you all about it.   If I'm among the first 100 participants, I will be writing a follow-up post about Fracture, with feedback, after testing it out. 

Photography is a daily passion of mine and Fracture looks like an excellent way to get those magical moments off the hard drive and onto the walls, so I'm excited to try it out.

Check out Fracture online:

Website - http://www.fractureme.com/

Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/fractureme

Blog - http://www.fractureme.com/blog/

Posterous - http://fracture.posterous.com/

 According to their web site:

Printing and framing pictures is often a huge hassle and can become really expensive really fast. Between getting your photos printed, finding a suitable frame, and figuring out how to mount them, the frustrations (and dollars) have mounted, and the magic has gone away.  However, you now have a contemporary, affordable, and practical way to show off all your favorite family pictures -- Fracture.  Fracture is the fastest, easiest, best way to get your pictures from your camera to your wall.

Fracture's introductory product lets you print your digital pictures right onto glass!  There's no paper, film or anything involved.  Simply ink and glass.  We have effectively combined printing, framing, and mounting into one simple process.  You upload your photo to FractureMe.com, we print it on glass, and send it on it's way with everything you need to mount and display. It's a one-stop, complete photo decor solution. 

Fractures are very safe: all sharp edges are removed, and they are completely okay to touch and handle.  

Fractures are durable: the prints are shatter proof (unlike traditional glass frames), and the images will not fade for years beyond average prints.

Fractures are very practical and elegant: you can use them for any occasion, from Christmas and graduation gifts, to simple "Thank You's".  

Fractures are for everyone: from avid photographers to snap happy point-and-shoot lovers, anyone can get Fractured!

I wrote this blog post in response to a TwitterMoms RAMBO alert, making me eligible to get a Fracture picture frame for review. You can learn more about Fracture at http://www.fractureme.com. 

Lost and Found--Impressed With Emily Press Labels

Summer camp season is upon us again.   And if your kids are anything like mine, they're far too busy playing with friends, swimming, creating camp crafts, and exploring outdoors to keep track of their stuff.   That's when you need a friend like Emily Press.


Our first week, I made a daily check of the lost and found at both camps and retrieved our:


1 raincoat
1 pair of sunglasses
2 water bottles
2 bandannas
1 lunch box
1 wet pair of socks
1 camera


Yesterday we were already in the car and I sent them back because they left EVERYTHING!  (backpack, 2 lunch boxes, 2 water bottles, 2 jackets)

The time and money spent replacing kids' clothes and gear adds up!    And sleep away camps are even more rough for losing stuff.   Then there's the common situation of look alikes.   Which one of those 12 matching water bottles is your happy camper's?

So, I was excited when our Emily Press Labels arrived.   They're a Vancouver company that ships everywhere.   And they have excellent, quality labels that hold up.   They're waterproof, dishwasher and microwave safe, sunscreen and fade resistant.

In the past, we have used fabric markers and iron on name labels which took a lot of time to apply, didn't last, and sometimes blurred beyond recognition.   Those days are over.   These labels are a quick peel and stick.


The designs are so much fun, Sagezilla and Du-Jay couldn't wait to use them on everything from lunch containers to shoes.   We've been extremely impressed with Emily Press.

Check out their web site for a huge variety of creative, funky label art for the whole family.


My husband is the king of weekly lost stainless steel coffee mugs, so he's getting tagged, too.

Emily Press has some great packets of Camp Labels and Back to School labels, or you can pick and chose your own configuration.   We went with a Camp Label Collection of 100 assorted sizes and shapes with Meechy Monkey Grassy Scene from The Kids Play Collection.   We chose to include our last name and phone number to maximize the chance of returns, but labels can be custom designed to include first or last names or any combination of information.

My kids are in and out of a series of great half day camps throughout the city, and our 1st week we split time between Nature Camp and Gymnastics Camp at two different parks.   


This week we're in Pioneer the World Camp at The Swedish American Museum where the kids "fly" to a different continent each day in a cardboard airplane and learn about games, food, customs, and songs for each country.   Yesterday they flew to India and today they're jetting off to Ethiopia.   Tomorrow they'll spend the day in Puerto Rico.   Thursday they're off to Sweden and thrilled that they're going to get to bring photos, video, and souvenirs from our actual trip to Sweden.


Next week the kids split two different directions with Sagezilla returning to Gymnastics Camp and Du-Jay heading off to with the Urban Campers to learn Camping 101 skills, fishing and kayaking, and cooking over a fire culminating in a one night camp out.   The following week, they're both together again, out of town and in Zoo Camp.


Summer's not a time for stressing out, and with our hectic schedule and a second job as the kid taxi driver, I don't have time to hand print our contact info 100 times on difficult fabrics or re buy summer essentials.  I'm relaxed and relieved that what gets lost can easily be found, thanks to Emily Press.