Nuby Sure Grip Bowl {Review}

Disclosure: Nuby sent us the Sure Grip Bowl to review.  All opinions expressed below are my own.

There are occasionally days where I feel like I might be getting the hang of this mom thing - but more often than not, I wake up and wonder what to feed my toddler for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Parenting is hard work, and mealtime adds elements of fun and frustration.

Nuby's Sure Grip Bowl is a favorite around our house lately. Lincoln's latest mealtime trick is shoving his dishes across the kitchen table when he decides he is finished. Sometimes this happens when he has eaten all of his meal - but sometimes he won't even eat macaroni (his favorite food), and you can imagine the disaster when he throws it. The base of this bowl makes it much more difficult for him to push it away across the table and I am definitely grateful for that!

The Sure Grip Bowl is ergonomically designed to work for either a left-handed or right-handed child (we think Lincoln may be a leftie), and is made of break-resistent polypropylene - so even if Lincoln does shove it off the table, chances are it will stay in one piece. It's a great size for little serving sizes - we routinely serve up mac and cheese or snacks like fresh fruit or crackers in this bowl.

Like the iMonster Toddler Bowl from Nuby, this has become a staple in our kids mealtime cabinet. We use it all the time!

The Nuby Sure Grip Bowl can be found at several online and local retailers, including Amazon and BuyBabyDirect.

Make sure you follow along with Nuby on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram to keep up with all the latest products and promotions!


I am writing this post as part of the NUBY Mommy Blogger Program.  I did not receive compensation for this post, although as part of the program I may receive items to sample or review.  All opinions are my own and are 100% honest.

How I Saved 83% on Winter Essentials for My Kids

This past week has been a little bit nuts - thus my lack of cohesive social media presence. Whenever I am trying to prepare for a kid's consignment sale, my house is a disaster and I feel behind on everything. Thankfully, my items are all for sale today through Saturday at Kid's Closet Connection in Lees Summit (if you're local - go buy all the things*), and I can breathe easy until it's time to do it all over again.

I shopped the pre-sale for volunteers and consignors yesterday and found some amazing things. Possibly the most exciting are the deals I found for the kid's winter necessities. Here's what I scored!

London Fog Infant Girl Puffer Coat - retail $72.00 - $4.00
London Fog Toddler Boy Puffer Coat - retail $85.00 - $14.00
Old Navy Toddler Boy Snow Bibs - retail $29.94 - $10.00
Circo Toddler Girl Snow Bibs - retail $19.99 - $7.00

The total retail price of just these four items would be $206.93. I paid just $35.00 for these items - a total savings of 171.93 or 83%! Don't even try - you'll never convince me that shopping at consignment sales is not the way to go!

What's the best deal you've found at a consignment sale, thrift store, or garage sale? Secondhand shopping is amazing!

*If you are in KC and want to go shop, the sale runs now through Saturday at Lakeland Community Church, 913 NE Colbern Road, Lees Summit, MO. Hours are 10am-7pm on Friday and 10am-3pm on Saturday (and most items will be half price that day)!

Wordless Wednesday: Laundry Basket Sailors

Some were happier about this game than others. ;)

Yeah it's been way too long since I did a WW post! Whoops!

Pocoyo's Circus {DVD Review + Giveaway}

Disclosure: NCircle sent us a Pocoyo's Circus DVD for review. No other compensation was received and all views expressed are my own.

Have you ever been to an alien circus? Neither had we, until we received this fun DVD about one of our favorite TV friends - Pocoyo! For probably the last year or so, Lincoln has loved watching Pocoyo and his friends have all sorts of adventures. When I heard that the newest DVD was all about the circus, I said perfect - since we did just have our first family trip to the circus a couple of weeks ago!

But as I mentioned before, Pocoyo's Circus is not just any circus. It's headed up by a troupe of aliens who come sailing along in their UFO to greet Pocoyo, Pato, Elly, and Loula. I enjoy this show so much because Pocoyo is such an adorable little person. I love seeing the world through Lincoln's eyes, and Pocoyo is a creative, imaginative little child who is always thinking up fun new ideas to try - so I don't mind if Lincoln learns some new tricks.

But the fun doesn't stop with the circus! This DVD includes quite a few delightful stories to enjoy, including Mystery Footprints, Mad Mix Machine, Remember When, Pocoyo's Balloon, New on the Planet, Who's Calling Me Now?, and one of my personal favorites, Vamoosh on the Loosh. This is possibly just because I get a huge kick out of the word "vamoosh" - but that's beside the point.

Here are a few sneak peeks at the alien circus!

This is my favorite Pato face. Hahaha.

Pocoyo is on NickJr and Univision every day - but we don't have cable, so I'm glad we can enjoy this show on DVD! Addie technically does not get any screen time, but she likes to sneak over and watch Pocoyo with her big brother. I'm a big fan of the bright colors and simple animation. It's a perfect toddler/preschool show!

Pocoyo's Circus is available now (retail $12.99) at Toys"R"Us, Kmart, Target, and Amazon!

Giveaway

One Director Jewels reader will win a Pocoyo's Circus DVD.  This giveaway will end on October 14 at 11:59pm CST.  This giveaway is open to US readers only.

To enter the giveaway, follow the instructions in the Rafflecopter form below (you may need Javascript enabled to see the form and it may take a moment to load)!  Once you complete the first entry, the other options will open up so that you can complete them as well.  All of the "extra entries" are optional - you can do just one, or as many as you want!  Winners will be contacted by email and have 48 hours to respond before a new winner is chosen.  Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thank you to NCircle Entertainment for providing my review sample and the giveaway prize!  I received no other compensation and all views expressed are my own.  For more information, you can read my Giveaway Policy and my Disclosure Policy.

Fall Bucket List {2013}

It's confession time. When I planned our summer bucket list this year, I had doubts that we would accomplish anything on it. It seems that I've grown lazy since having kids. I always get trapped in the mindset that it is too much work to go out and do things - even if they're things I know we will all enjoy! So, I was pleasantly surprised that we actually completed a lot of the things on our summer list! Did we do everything? No. But we had a lot of fun, and that was the goal.

I started a list several weeks ago of things we want to do this fall. This may become an every-season bucket list, but I think I'm okay with that. When I have a list, I have a lot more accountability! I want our kids to always have awesome memories of doing things together as a family, so even if they aren't technically old enough right now to remember any of it - we'll keep right on doing things. In a couple of years, they'll be able to request their favorite activities and participate in creating our goals for each season - that will help a lot.

We're still limited as to what we can do somewhat, since our kids are very young - but we've learned that having only babies and toddlers does not mean skipping all of the "normal" activities. Fall is a season that has a lot of great outdoor activities that are perfect for little ones!

Here's the list!

-Visit the Enchanted Forest (we had a blast last year). Done!

-Attend Oktoberfest, the Fall Fun Fest, and the Santa-Cali-Gon Festival. Are we festival junkies or something? Done - sort of. We missed the Fall Fun Fest. Oh well!

-Go to the Kansas City Renaissance Festival.

-Visit a Pumpkin Patch (because my kids look cute when surrounded by pumpkins). Done!

-Go Apple Picking. Done!

-Make a Thankful Turkey Craft (like this one).

-Attend some Theatre Performances (a few on our radar are Wicked, All My Sons, and Shrek the Musical).

-Carve Pumpkins. Done!

-Make Apple Cider.

-Have Awesome Halloween Costumes that Rival all our Past Awesome Costumes (2010, 2011, 2012). Done!

-Sew a Dress for Addie.

-Go to the Circus. Done!

-Go on a Nature Walk. Done!

-Make a fabric pumpkin (like this one).


I already know we won't do everything on this list - we actually already missed one of the festivals. Oh well! But at least we have a plan. What's your favorite fall family activity?