Reviews

Lately I have bought a couple items for our family that I would like to review.

First - The miSwivel Feeding Chair

I love it!  I ordered this a few weeks ago from kids.woot.com at a great price.  I liked the idea that Violet can use it from now until she can use a regular chair, since it reclines for now and converts to a booster later.  The chair was shipped to us and arrived while I was in AZ.  When I came home and opened the box, I started to worry that Violet would hate the chair because it looks like it would feel exactly like a carseat.  And we all know how much Violet likes the carseat ;)  But she doesn't mind this chair.  She will happily play in it, which is a lifesaver for me since I spend half of my awake hours in the kitchen.  Now I can finally cook with hands free!  And, Jason and I don't have to eat dinner in shifts because she joins the family at the table.

Second:  Stoplight Sleep Enhancing Clock

I also purchased this from kids.woot.com for a steal.  And so far, it is worth every penny.  Rowan has been waking up too early lately, because he doesn't know when it is morning and when it is the middle of the night.  This clock has a stoplight that signals when it is time to wake up.  When you set the alarm, the red light comes on until the designated time, then the clock switches to the green light.  Green light means go!  So far Rowan has not come out of his room when the light is red, and once he ran out of the room as soon as the light switched yelling, "It's green!  The light is green!"  We have it set for 7:00, which is an acceptable wake-up time for us :)  The only downside of this clock for us is that there is a constant light in our kids' room.  As some of you know, our kids sleep in total darkness, so I was worried that the light would bother them, but it doesn't seem to be a problem.  The red light does not illuminate the room, however the green light does.  But I figure it's not bright enough to wake them up from sleep.

Third:  Trader Joe's Gingerbread House Kit

The kids have been begging to make a gingerbread house.  I have seen kits in stores, but they are so expensive!  Plus we bought one a couple years ago and it was disgusting.  Everything was hard and inedible.  So, I had grand plans to make the gingerbread and frosting myself and buy candy to decorate it with.  But then I saw these kits at Trader Joe's this morning at a reasonable price, $7.99 each.  I figure it could cost close to that to buy all the materials separately to make our own.  And I have learned lately that I am still making plans that are too big for me to accomplish now.  So, I bought the kit (two of them in fact, to reduce the amount of arguing that sharing one would bring).  They did require two additional ingredients - egg whites and a tiny bit of vinegar to make the frosting.  The kids loved them, and they were not difficult to put together.  All the ingredients tasted great, and the gingerbread is soft, not cardboard-like.  The coolest thing about them is they came with three tiny, adorable people (and a dog) made out of candy.  If you want to buy these at your Trader Joe's, you might want to grab them now.  They were flying off the shelf at my store!

                                                                           The kit

Ellie's house.  See the cute little people?

Rowan's house.  He made me write "Happy Thanksgiving" with the frosting.  Oh, and his people are inside the house :)

I also helped Rowan make the gingerbread man on the side.  I should have bought one for myself!