Rip Ride 360 and Tryazon!

 Our family was lucky enough to be chosen to share a Razor product with our friends and neighbors. With Covid, and a medically complicated kiddo, we hosted our event a bit different. We had an in person party with our out of state friends and one set of neighbors in our social bubble. Then we had additional neighbors take the ride-on home, enjoy at their leisure, and send back fun pictures!! This was such fun it's still continuing and I've just posted in our neighborhood Facebook group to share with more neighbors!!

We got to use the Razor RipRide 360 which has LED glow back wheels and sparkly spots on the front giant wheel. This toy drifts and cruises low to the ground for awesome thrills that make mom feel safe too!! Helmets were always on per my own rules but there was tons of fun to be had. 

We figured out we own an astronomical amount of Razor products as we started our event!!

Neighbors and friends all watch their kiddos get a try on the RipRide360

With a 160# weight limit even adults could have fun!!

The RipRider only took Tim about 15 minutes to assemble. 

Look at that glow!!

Connecting with Kid Knex!

We were fortunate enough to be chosen to host a Kid K'nex exploration party through Tryazon. We got to explore their building sets aimed at the preschool market and it was pure LOVE. I have to admit I already owned two sets of these building block type toys that I had scavenged form garage sales. At the time of purchase I checked online and couldn't find more. I'm so glad to see them readily available and a new focus point for K'nex brands. THEY ARE AMAZING. Our local science museum has them out for free play and they are always busy. If you have a toddler through early elementary school age child they will enjoy them.

How are they different than other building sets??

Like other K'nex products, the pieces connect easily to make 3-d builds. These sets include pieces like eyeballs, fins, feet, and more. My children build geometric masterpieces along with crazy animal monsters.

You're luckier than I was years ago searching for Kid K'nex because they're available online through Amazon! These would be a perfect Christmas gift for grandparents wanting to make parents happy with a stimulating choice and children happy with fun!!

Did you miss our live unboxing on Facebook?? Check out the short clip here.

Learning with Lauri

We were picked to host a Learning with Lauri party through Tryazon! This means our family received a box of their products in order to share and explore it with our friends. I hosted the party at the local elementary school which serves as a great meeting space for friends!!

Lauri was founded by a school teacher in 1961. They're a staple in most preschools these days and the classic Lauri stacker is a favorite. I was so excited to see the new twist on the classic stacker set, Action Stackers! Even my 8yr old who swears he was way to old to play with preschool toys has been busy building and playing. The addition of the moveable pieces were key!

In addition to the Action Stackers, we got to sample tall stackers with a peg board, objects magnetic set, actions language cards, create-a-scene magnetic farm, shape and color sorter, and a crepe rubber puzzle.

The actions cards are perfect for any number of language and movement exploration games. I have actually used them with even older children to play charades. All little ones seem to love magnets. We use a large magnet board at home and a portable one on car rides. They tell stories and play games all using the picture magnets.

I love Lauri products, we love Lauri products!! Lauri products by Playmonster were already a staple on our preschool learning shelves and through Tryazon we've found new favorites too!!

EQtainment Fun - Emotional Intelligence Improvement for Kids!

Do you like to practice better behavior and social skills with your young children? Do you struggle with fun methods for teaching them to explore their feeling while also learning better ways to react? If so, check out EQtainment and their products. I was able to explore a fun packet of many of their offering thanks to Tryazon and hosted an in home playdate using their game, Q's Race to the Top as a fun activity.

Starting at around age 3 Q's Race to the top is an interactive board game that helps kids explore their emotions, communication, manners, social skills, creative thinking, balance, and coordination. It's fast paced so even when we let litter sibling join in they were able to stay entertained!

I love the offerings this entire brand has from coloring books that explore more than just crayons to the Q Wunder app boasts being the first app to improve the world's social and emotional intelligence through entertainment. 

You're probably asking what emotional intelligence even is. Emotional intelligence includes: reading social cues, self-motivation, delaying gratification, coping with life’s ups and downs, managing relationships, decision making and problem solving. Research has shown that kids who score higher in emotional intelligence are better able to adapt and thrive both at home, school, and of course in the future.  

Carter was excited to try it out!!

Carter explores movement after landing on a "Do" card.

EQtainment has an On the Go Pack of fun where you can pick cards to quiz your kiddos on their ideas and feelings. It's small and portable but offers lots of entertainment or should I say EQtainment. This set is a great discussion starter and with us has led to really interesting conversations! I love that I can word the questions different with my 4 year old versus my 7 year old so everyone gets the most out of it. 

Robot Fun with Ozobot!

I was recently lucky enough to be chosen to receive an Ozobot starter kit to share. I wasn't familiar with Ozobot at first but Im' a huge fan of STEM learning and activities. Ozobot is described as a small robot toy that helps your child become a maker of technology who learns some computer science basics.

Ozobot really is all about play. The start kit comes with paper activities, a protective sheet, stickers, and markers. In addition it can be used with a few available apps and an iPad. The Ozobot website even has more games which can be replayed over and over again just by printing. You can learn about all of the play option on their website here.

Ozobot itself is a small robot about the size of a normal bouncy ball. It comes with some paper and sticker decoration that help make the various games even more exciting and decorative for littler ones. My 4 year old loves customizing Ozobot when it's his turn but my almost 7 year old is more interested in the actual game not the accessories.

How it works?
It's a bit hard to describe but using colors (marker, sticker, etc) you can program the Ozobot to drive itself various ways. There are functions for jump codes and more too.

The Ozobot website also has links and information for teachers to use for lesson plans in the classroom.

So far we've loved sharing Ozobot with the grade schoolers in small groups. The boys are figuring out that if they don't create the marker lines correctly (too thick or too thin for example) their robot won't work. It's great seeing them trouble shoot to make it all work. Boy Scouts and after school playdates have been even more fun with robots!!

Grippies - Sensory Toy for Infants and Toddlers

I was lucky enough to be chosen to host  Grippies party. As part of the host kit Guidecraft sent their amazing sensory stimulating building blocks.

These are targeted to toddlers (18mo+) as a first building block. They are magnetic and easily attach and disconnect. The ball shape pieces are covered in a nice soft rubber coating that makes them less destructive if they're' whipped at your head or window by an overactive kiddo... ask me how I know! The longer connector pieces have different texture soft rubber making them easy to grip and handle. Oliver has been a huge fan since the day he first saw the toy arrive in the mail! His big brothers get in on the action all the time too!

We took our Grippies set on our recent Adirondacks get away and it was one of the favorite toys while hanging out on the screened in porch! It helped soften the pain of being told you can't explore outside on your own 20' from a lake when you're 18 months old!

If you're looking to start introducing STEM concepts and enjoy sensory and tactile exploration give Grippies a try. You'll be surprised if you check out Guidecraft's website at all the innovative and modern toys they now offer!

After our vacation and introducing Grippies to friends on our trip we shared our Grippies with our MOMS Club! They are a keeper and will be out at our playdates for a long time to come.

C is for Cinnamon Rolls!!!

Thanks to Tryazon I recently hosted a new Rhodes, Bake n Serv,  product party! Rhodes has a new line of microwaveable cinnamon rolls they are sharing with the world. As amazing as their other products are, I can't wait to try these quick rolls. For our Rhodes themed party we sampled their traditional cinnamon rolls. These have a "quicker" option that lets you defrost in the oven that I've done each time I've had these. It's much faster and I see NO issues or trade offs. Rhodes cinnamon rolls are found in your grocer's freezer section. The are simply defrosted, allowed to rise, and baked. Cost here int he midwest was around $4 for 12 giant rolls.

As a hobby baker myself, I usually find homemade baked goods worlds above anything found in a grocery store including the refrigerated ready made doughs. Thats just not the case with these. Rhodes cinnamon rolls are better than any I've created from scratch and so easy. Everyone who tried them couldn't believe they weren't homemade from scratch. They were the best cinnamon rolls I've ever had!! Seriously!

Okay enough gushing lets's get to the fun part!! Pictures.

The frozen rolls are simply laid out on the baking sheet, covered with saran wrap, and then put into an oven heated to 175degrees then shut off. This fast defrost method lets you have fresh rolls in less than 2 hours. 

To incorporate cinnamon rolls and Rhodes products into a fun vent for both moms and tots in my moms group, I hosted a C is for Cinnamon class. There we talked all about the letter C with the kids, read fun books, and did fun crafts. 

"C"utting practice

Painting "C"orn with cinnamon and learning about the color brown

 The highlight was our tasting and sampling at the end of our crafts!

Okay so when I went to write this post, I realized that I have NO pictures of our fully baked and amazing rolls. This could be because they were gobbled up in mere minutes! Luckily I've been addicted to them ever since my first sampling so I'll make a batch tomorrow and repost those pictures. They rise and get amazingly large and scrumptious!!

I hosted a Rhodes, bake n serv, party thanks to Tryazon! All opinions are my own.

Body Comp Fun!

I was lucky enough to be chosen to host an iHealth party through Tryazon. A part of the party pack included the iHealth core wireless body composition scale and their wireless blood pressure monitor. I was immediately thrilled with the idea of tracking my halt through their free and well thought out app. It's iPhone compatible and you can log in from any webpage to view your private health data too.

The iHealth core body composition scale does a lot more than just weigh a person. Here are some technical specs better left to the pros to explain...

• Body weight range: 11 lb – 400 lb/ 5-180 kg

• Body fat measurement range: 5%-65%

• Body water measurement range: 20%-85%

• Visceral fat rating range: 1-59

• Body weight: ±1.1lbs (11lbs~88lbs); ±(1%+0.2lbs) (8~330lbs); ±0.5kg (5kg~40kg); ±(1%+0.1kg)(40kg~150kg)

• Body fat: ±1%

• Body water: ±1%

• Body muscle mass: ±(1% + 0.2 lbs) / ±(1% + 0.1 kg)

• Bones mass: ±0.66lbs / ±0.3 kg

• Visceral fat rating: ±2

• DCI (Daily Calorie Intake): ±200kcal

You are more than a number. You are Beautiful!

So what's that all mean? For me it immediately gave me the info to show that I was dehydrated. This is important since I'm currently nursing my son. I probably could have guessed this but now that t's in writing it's easier to do something about it! I found out my body fat measurement is fine for a female of my age/size and surprisingly my bone mass isn't as much as I would guess. No idea what to do with that knowledge but with Halloween coming up it made me think of skeletons and I thought they'd be a lot heavier!

It was very easy to sync the scale to my iPhone app and the scale allows more than one user too. Just a tip, don't hold your iPhone and try to measure yourself. It will only give the weight reading not the body fat calculations! 

The wireless blood pressure monitor is also a breeze to use. The data easily syncs to the same app and your information is shown right along with the other data points. iHealth has additional tools such as glucose meters and pulse ox devices too. 

I received the above mentioned products in order to share with friends and review. All opinions are my own and no compensation was received. 

Let Mom Sleep!!

Three rowdy boys, one of whom is under 4 months old means I'm not getting much sleep around here. That being said I was excited to try out the Let Mom Sleep Party and see the new Dearfoams Slipper line and try the Beddit Sleep Monitor.

The new Dearfoams line of slippers is very trendy with bright and bold colors and as comfortable as always! I LOVED the lavender and blue color lines. They have styles for everyone inkling flip flop, moccasin, ballet slipper, and more. Their sizing is easy to understand and ranges up to even the largest sizes!! You can get your own Dearfoams slippers at Kohls, Walmart, or Amazon!

Now onto Beddit. You're probably wondering what exactly it is. The Beddit Sleep Monitor tracks a person's gross movement which correlates to restful periods of sleep. It connects wirelessly to your phone and has an app you use. There is nothing to wear to collect this data. It's placed onto your mattress. Beddit then measures your breathing rhythm, heart rate, motion and even snoring!You are provided with tips to improve sleep too! I've been recording my sleep since we moved into our new place so check back in a few weeks to see my actual sleep monitoring experience!!