The heat moves in, and out come the bugs.  I can remember when I lived on the east coast, the humidity and bugs were almost unbearable in the summer.  Bug repellent was an absolute necessity.  Out here in the desert, we have special breeds of desert bugs that appear in spring/summer months.  I’m already seeing them pop up.  We also have “ant season” where once a year the ants go marching 100 by 100 into our house.  There’s no stopping them, but you can get rid of them.  The only problem is that those harsh chemicals are NOT kid or pet friendly.  I feel like I have to lock my daughter and cat into a room to keep them away from just the fumes!

EcoSmart has come out with some amazing organic, plant based pest killer products that are safe to spray around your house, even the kitchen.  And get this, they actually work!  Believe me, I tried it out on the large flying desert bugs that have recently started coming in.  I thought the best part about the products is that they smell so good!  After your spray the pest killer, you’re left with a pleasant minty smell.  Now that is amazing!!  Check out their super interesting blog here.

I tried out the Picnic Bundle and the products were just fantastic!  The Home Pest Control is non-toxic yet kills and repels over 100 home invading pests.  It is great for indoor and outdoor use on common pests such as ants, beetles, cockroaches, crickets, spiders, and other crawling pests.  For those flying bugs, EcoSmart has a can spray that zaps them on the go. The Flying Insect Killer kills  flies, gnats, mosquitoes, moths, wasps, and other flying insect pests on contact.  Just spray in 2-3 second bursts and then wipe away any of the non-toxic residue.  EcoSmart also makes an organic Insect Repellent that keeps away mosquitoes, ticks, gnats, and more.  One application repels for hours and the product contains no DEET.  The smell is soo pleasant as it contains lemongrass oil, cinnamon leaf oil, and rosemary oil.

Other products that EcoSmart sells include: Ant and Roach Killer, Weed and Grass Killer, Wasp and Hornet Killer, Lawn Insect Killer, Garden Fungicide, and Garden Insect Killer.

GIVEAWAY: To enter to win ANY VALUE BUNDLE OF PRODUCTS, leave a comment about which BUNDLE you most need.  To see all the bundles, click here.

EXTRA ENTRIES: Please leave a comment for every extra entry you complete

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Contest ends March 28, 2010 at Midnight PST.  Winner will be chosen by Random.org and emailed.  If they do not respond within 48 hours, another winner will be chosen.

Special thanks to EcoSmart for providing samples.

I love memory books, I really do. I use them to channel my inner creativity, I know, I need therapy. I’ve turned my daughter’s memory book into a scrapbook with photos, clippings and cute sayings. It’s crazy. The problem I’ve run into are where to place the smaller keepsakes, the hospital bracelets, baptism mementos, locks of hair and other items we’d love to cram into the memory book if possible.  I stumbled across Petit Collage’s Deluxe Baby Book & Memory Box available at Chronicle Books and instantly knew this was the ultimate memory book.

Petit Collage’s Baby Book has pages to fill out regarding your pregnancy, news from the day your child was born, information on mommy and daddy, each of your child’s firsts, monthly data, a family tree and so much more. I love that the book fits right into a top portion of the Memory Box with a ribbon marker to easily lift out the book to make your updates quickly. Pull out the little drawer in the front of the box and you’ll find 15 glassine envelopes along with several sticker sheets to label each envelope mark each cherished item. There’s so much room in this memory box that you’ll no longer have to keep that baby hat from the hospital and other items you just can’t seem to donate in separate places. Every item will fit neatly in one place for you to one day hand down to your child. Such a brilliant idea!

Head over to Chronicle books here and pick up the Petit Collage deluxe baby book & memory box for yourself and your child’s memories.

Special thank you to Chronicle Books for providing a sample for this review.

Being just one day before one of my favorite holidays, I thought I’d throw together a few fun ideas I’ve seen all over the net to inspire you with some crafty ideas for St. Patrick’s Day.

A cute blog called Living My Sweet Life put an adorable spin on a tutorial from another blog called Crap I’ve Made (LOVE that name!) for creating applique tie shirts. She picked up some St. Patrick’s Day fabric in the dollar section at Target, the Tie pattern from Crap I’ve Made, Wonder Under to adhere the pattern to the shirt and a few simple stitches and this is what she created.

Some yellow Jell-O cut into little squares and placed in a bowl suddenly turns into a pot of gold!

Kris from Jesse Kate Designs shares on her site how to create some fun and edible centerpieces that are sure to get your kids excited!

Martha Stewart always has a few tricks up her sleeves when it comes to creative crafts, food and decorations. I love this green pepper shamrock as a healthy and fun snack.

One of my favorite blogs, Full House, shares how she created the most adorable Leprechaun Hats out of yogurt containers. I love when you can use items that typically we just recycle or throw away to make adorable crafts and/or decorations.

My daughter has recently taken a liking to gardening.  She’s always loved flowers, trees, all plants really, making sure to name the trees in our yard.  Well a current project in this house was the removal of the  palm tree in our indoor garden, and replacing with something new and fresh.  We decided to go bigger and go with a Flowering Plum tree with gorgeous blossoms.

True to form, my daughter wanted to be involved with the planting process, and continues to want to help with the watering of said tree.  With her new West County Gloves, this is an easy task for her.  No dirt on this girls hands! The gloves are super cute, come in fun colors, and are very durable. The lightly padded palms and fingers are reinforced to protect small hands from blisters and thorns.  The tall cuff gives extra forearm protection, featuring an adjustable wrist tab that holds the glove gently in place.  And bonus, they are machine washable and will not shrink!  So she is right there with me with her trowel, handfuls of soil, and watering bucket!  Yet another fun family hobby.  Purchase your own gloves (adult and child) straight from West County Gloves.

Congratulations to Jennifer, winner of our Smart Girls Who Surf giveaway!  She will receive a Sun Savvy Kit and a logo sun visor.  Thanks so much to Smart Girls Who Surf for this great giveaway.  Winner has been emailed.

You may remember our recent Earth Mama Angel Baby post.  I boasted about this company and am excited that they’re releasing a brand new product, Happy Mama Body Wash!  This body wash is made for the pregnant mama, with ingredients such as fresh ginger to help fight nausea and bright citrus essential oils to lift those groggy and tired spirits.  As with all of Earth Mama Angel Baby products this body wash contains zero toxins, is chemical free and has USDA Certified Organic ingredients.  It’s so pure and natural you can even use it on your little ones when in a pinch and out of their usual wash.  I was lucky enough to try Happy Mama Body Wash and love it!  If you visit Earth Mama’s website before March 16th you get a free bottle of Happy Mama Body Wash with the purchase of  Mama’s Pregnancy Essential’s bundle, so hurry!

Special thanks to Earth Mama Angel Baby for providing a sample.

Can you guess what his Kimochi is:)

Being a mom to a three year old is, to sum it all up, an adventure! Sometimes, I’m sure that the terrible two’s has got to be hyphenated, “two-three’s” and we all just missed the memo. They are just learning how to sort out and communicate their preferences and opinions with us and their peers. When I think about it, it has got to be insanely difficult to be so small and so limited. Don’t you wish there was some way to intervene in the middle of those dramatic temper tantrums? With the help of Kimochis, take the opportunity to make it a teaching moment that is both fun and positive.

Plushy Feely Corp., home of Kimochis Toys with Feelings Inside is a company founded by Moms who are dedicated to promoting social and emotional wellness in children and families. Their vision is to provide families with fun, playful and engaging products and educational resources to help develop emotional intelligence and strengthen parent child connections. Feel good inside and out!

Kimochi(key-mo-chee) means “feeling” in Japanese. And Kimochis are what come inside each character! Kimochis are small pillows with a feeling (happy, sad, silly, brave…) printed on one side, and a corresponding facial expression on the other. Each character has a special pocket where kids can store their “Kimochis”- or feelings. Using the characters and their Kimochis, kids can get in touch with their emotions in a fun and comfortable way through puppetry and play. When kids are comfortable talking about their feelings, they build self esteem and confidence.

Tiny Tester:

I love so many things about these little plushies. Kade is my visual, kinesthetic, and tactile learner. Being able to see, feel and act out how his emotions are and should be in a fun and creative way has been amazing! He is now less inclined to enter the downward spiral that is the temper tantrum. My sweet, sometimes emotional, boy can be so much more in tune with his feelings and initiate the conversation about them all on his own! The Kimochis website has teaching tools and guidelines to help you best utilize your new helper. Each plushie has their own personality, challenges and cute little quirks. We chose Huggtopus, who is cute and cuddly, but sometimes overbearing and doesn’t realize her own strength. From the moment Huggtopus was in Kade arms, he has been obsessed with showing me how he feels. And, how adorable are the “KI-motions”?! Not to mention, it’s ridiculously cute to hear him say,”KEE-MOW-CHEE”:)

Sorting his feelings

Then, his brother discovered them. That did not make Kade too happy.

And he got right to telling me how it made him feel:(

GIVEAWAY: For your chance to win a Kimochi and two sets of Mixed Feelings, leave a comment below telling us which personality best fits your little one.

To read about each character and their story, click here.

Extra Entries: Please leave a comment for every entry you complete.

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Contest ends March 20,2010 at Midnight PST. Winner will be chosen by Random.org and emailed. If they do not respond within 48 hours, another winner will be chosen.

Special thanks to Kimochis for providing samples.

Always looking to bring you the cutest baby and toddler clothing, I’ve struck gold again!  Glug Baby offers up ridiculously cute designs for the upcoming spring and summer seasons.  The clothing is of top quality and so soft, perfect for your precious child.  The clothing is adorable and original, covering girl and boy designs, YES boy designs as well.  I found the fit of the tee to be unbelievably perfect.  A company has finally figured it out!  The bottom isn’t too wide, it’s long enough, the neck and sleeve opening are perfecto.  I imagine the whole line is just as well designed and I will be finding out soon, as should you!  You can find their products in a host of online stores, including Giggle and Chasing Fireflies.  Check out all of their adorable designs on the Glug Baby site.  Order their new spring line at moxiekidsonline.com.

Erin: Glug’s line of clothing is refreshing with their adorable prints and colors. I was really impressed that it had zero shrinkage when I washed and dried it. It’s soft, not too baggy, made from high quality material and my daughter absolutely adores it. What more can you really ask for? Only hard thing is trying to decide what other items to purchase for the hot weather that’s already here!

Thank you to Glug for providing samples for review.

Any mom who has eyeballs and ears, has heard and seen Haba toys.  Haba has been bringing parents innovative, safe, and cherished toys for over 70 years.  With all that experience, you can certainly trust them to provide stimulating and safe toys.  While on a search for bright and fun infant toys for the ITKM Swag Bag, Introducing…, my top choices remained with Haba.  It is hard to ignore the sheer volume and know-how that Haba has.  It is crucial to find bright, stimulating, AND age appropriate toys for your newborn baby.  From the moment they open their tiny eyes, they are learning, soaking up everything around them like a sponge.  We must provide them with contrasting colors, sounds, and textures to explore and expand their minds.  Here are a couple soft baby toys that I found to be my favorite for 2010 (girl and boy): Anton the Beetle and Fidelia the Flower.  Notice they both change forms, both have bright contrasting colors, and both crinkle and jingle.

And here’s my not so newborn with the toys (which she shook over her doll baby’s bed for 10 minutes).  Notice Simon the cat nearby.  He couldn’t resist the jingling and crinkling of the two toys!

I’m a crafter. I admit it! I’ve been sewing again for the first time since my sewing class back in 8th grade. Scary, I know. I love finding items that aren’t impossible to do (like an entire quilt) but functional and fun for my family. I browse etsy and blogs for inspiration and try to recreate what I see. I figure there has to be a few of you out there like me, so I might as well share my findings and projects. I found a tutorial on one of my favorite sewing blogs here and felt that burning desire to tackle this project.

When my daughter was a baby she loved to grab on to things and shake them all around. As I’m sure you know, a lot of grasping toys are plastic or wood and I swear, she’d always smack herself in the head with them. This is why I felt motivated to attempt the ABC Book from Moda. Not only are the items soft, but they’re the ABC’s so they provide an additional function as flashcards for later on. They’re made from cotton, so they’re safe for little ones to chew on during those teething months. The snail, well the snail is just cute! I picture it on my daughter’s bookshelf of something adding a bit interest to a boring nook. I purchased the fabric on etsy from this store who sells Moda fabrics. Hopefully this crafting projects inspires a few of you as it did me.

My daughter has been a picky eater since she turned one. I’m sure you’ve heard me whine about this several times. She loves fruit and snacks, but meals are just plain difficult for us. She used to love her veggies, but I can’t remember the last time she ate a vegetable in it’s natural form. Now as we approach 3 years of age, we still have our challenges, but I’ve gotten much more creative. She loves applesauce. She especially loves items she can suck out of a package. This is why Trader Joe’s is my hero. They’ve created these Apple Carrot Fruit Sauce Crushers. Brilliant! She has no idea that she’s eating carrots, she thinks it’s all applesauce and loves them. If you have a picky eater, I highly recommend these crushers especially for lunches, on the go or just as a sneaky healthy snack. Purchase them at your local Trader Joe’s. Let us know if you have any great healthy snacks for picky eaters too!

We’re a modern minimalist family.  Since adding a new addition to the family, Simon the cat, we’ve had to bring in new household items.  One such item is the dreaded litter box.  It’s a must have for every cat but the options are absolutely horrendous.  They are and you cat owners all know it.  I knew that there HAD to be a solution out there somewhere in the cyber universe.  I was right!  I stumbled upon ModKat, who offers clean lines and modern style… in a litter box!!  I knew immediately I had to have one, I mean Simon had to have one.  They require a top entry from the cat so there is zero litter mess on the floor.  Gravity takes care of the “litter feet”, as well as the top grate.  My kitten had no issue jumping up there and made an easy transfer to the ModKat  litter box.  The box features an amazing scoop that has bristles on the side to sweep stray litter off the top grate.  The scoop clicks right onto the side for easy access and storage.  ModKat also comes with a reusable liner, helping our environment by eliminating those plastic disposable liners.  The liner velcros to the inside of the litter box and has handles for easy removal and dumping.  Overall I give this litter box ten thumbs up.  It looks great, it’s totally functional, and it looks great… oh did I say that twice?

Erin:I married a man who grew up with cats, so this was a new venture for me when we first met. We got married and shortly thereafter adopted a kitten. This was my first experience with litter boxes and I must say, it wasn’t a pleasant one. We tried all different styles, igloos, boxes, you name it and they all just seemed throw litter all over the floor when our cat would jump out of it. Made me bonkers and I’d find myself sweeping up constantly. Now mind you, I’ve seen a few other litters with a similar style as the ModKat at the local pet store with the hole on the top, but they are definitely NOT the same. With the others, when the cats jump out and land on the top ledge, the litter just piles up and after a while gets knocked down onto your floor along with the cat when they jump off. ModKat’s top ledge has holes in it allowing the excess litter to fall back into the box eliminating the excess mess and waste! The handy lid on the ModKat actually just flips up with the push of a button and quickly dumps any litter that didn’t fall through the holes right back into the box. Our entire family loves our new litter box!

GIVEAWAY: For your chance to win a ModKat Litter Box, leave a comment below telling us what color you like best. To see their color options, go here.  This is a $180 value!

EXTRA ENTRIES: Please leave a comment for every extra entry you complete

1. Blog about this Giveaway
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12. Vote for our blog in Top Baby Blogs  (right sidebar)

Contest ends March 16, 2010 at Midnight PST.  Winner will be chosen by Random.org and emailed.  If they do not respond within 48 hours, another winner will be chosen.

Special thanks to ModKat for providing samples.