MomReviews

When her first child was born in 2004, Allison Friedland found that she wasn’t the only Mom who wished she could find fashionable Baby Clothes that reflected her daughter’s unique personality. After her son was born in 2007, she put her MBA and marketing background to work creating a line of clever infant and toddler clothing, called Uncommonly Cute. Her adorable onesies, short sleeve t-shirts and long sleeve t-shirts come in infant, boys, girls, and twins styles, in sizes that fit newborns up to size 6. Look at how cute these are:

Not only is each piece made of 100% super-soft combed cotton, they are also machine washable, safe, durable and made in sweatshop-free American studios. Your child will look great and be socially conscious, too! Uncommonly Cute supports the charities Room to Grow and R Baby Foundation by donating a portion of their profits as well as merchandise to help children in need. Depending on which style you choose, the shirts come in white, blue, pink, or black, and are priced at around $22.00 each.

Uncommonly Cute Baby Clothes can be purchased from the site or at stores in 33 States, Canada, and even in Australia-check the site for locations as well as shipping info. You’ll want to visit the site and look for the onesie or tee that fits your child’s unique personality!

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What combines servings of vegetables, microwave convenience, a just-right portion size, and a terrific taste that kids love? It’s Ragú’s® new Fresh and Simple All Natural sauce pouches! I received two pouches from MomCentral to sample, and for me, it’s a perfect way to serve pasta for lunch! The pouches come in three flavors-Traditional Tomato Basil, Garden Vegetable, and Tomato, Onion & Garlic. Like traditional Ragú® sauces, the Fresh and Simple sauces have no sugar, no artificial additives and no preservatives.

All you do is clip the corner of the pouch, pop it in the microwave for NINETY SECONDS, and pour the sauce over cooked pasta and voila, spaghetti for lunch! Since it’s just Kaitlyn and I having lunch at home during the week, it’s great to have a smaller amount, too. I’ve thrown away WAY too many opened jars of spaghetti sauce that got a little fuzzy around the edges.

Ragú® is committed to providing busy moms and dads with the tips, tools, and ideas they need to fuel their kids’ appetites and imaginations, so they created a website called Feed Our Kids Well. There you will find links to the Ragú® panel of experts including dieticians, nutritionists, fitness experts, and MomCentral’s own Stacy DeBroff (!), a link to the order form for a FREE 34 page Feed Our Kids Well recipe book, and a link to Ragu.com which has HUNDREDS of recipes and great meal ideas. I’ve used it myself!

Finally, the website has a video created to illustrate just why it is so important to Ragú® to provide wholesome, delicious products like the Fresh and Simple sauce pouches. They know how important our children are to us, how much love and joy they bring to our lives. They know we want to nourish both our children’s imaginations and their appetites. They know that our children are a Daily Gift.

Ragú® is a company that I am proud to support and recommend here on MomReviews. Thank you to MomCentral for providing the Fresh and Simple pouches, and thank you for making them, Ragú®.

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Nalgene, one of the oldest and most respected water bottle companies in the world, is a favorite for many of us who are looking to use a reusable water bottle for everyday hydration needs. Nalgene is known for its indestructible product qualities - their bottles have been used for every type of activity including, Everest expeditions, Peace Corps missions and of course everyday hydration use.

Today, the company also unveiled its Everyday line, an assortment of bottles manufactured with Tritan copolyester. The line includes favorites such as the 24-ounce OTG (On the Go), the iconic 32-ounce Wide Mouth, and the Grip-N-Gulp sippy cup. Tritan is impact resistant, dishwasher safe and durable. It also withstands a wide range of temperatures and does not contain BPA. The new Everyday product line will be available in stores this week and at www.nalgene-outdoor.com later this spring.

This is the 32-ounce Wide Mouth bottle:

This is the On the Go bottle:

And these are the cute Grip n Gulps, they have a valve like a sippy cup so they are perfect for younger kids:

For the giveaway, I have one 32-ounce Wide Mouth in the style shown in the photo above, two 24-ounce On the Go bottles in blue, and three Grip n Gulps, two that are blue and one that is green. I’ve been having a hard time deciding how to do this giveaway so finally I consulted a friend and decided that I am going to leave it up to you! Leave a comment on this post with either your real name or blog alias and a valid email address, and tell me which of the bottles you would like to win. I’ll separate the comments and draw names at random to choose, which means there will be SIX WINNERS! Woo hoo! Leave your comment by June 3rd at 9:00 AM. Good luck!

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I received a License Key to try KidsSave, a savings and money management software program designed for kids ages 6 and up. KidsSave shows kids how to save money towards a goal, how to keep track of their allowance, even how to earn monetary rewards like extra money or “interest”. Parents act as the Banker in setting up the initial account and monitoring transactions.

There are two features of the program that I particularly like, the first is the “What If?” feature. Kids can set a savings goal and then see at their current deposit rate, how long it will take them to reach that goal. Or, they can see how much they will have in 3 months, 6 months, a year, etc. It’s a great way to teach how to make adjustments to savings to reach a financial goal.

I also like the Money Counter, which teaches kids how to add and subtract coins and bills to their account. It’s available in U.S., Canadian, and Australian currency. Now, as the Banker/Parent, your responsibility will be to actually keep your kids’ money in an account somewhere. If they decide to make a withdrawal, you’ll need to be able to come up with their cash!

I give my boys their age in dollars for allowance every two weeks, and I do not tell them what to do with it. If Nathan wants to blow the whole nine dollars on a new lego set, that’s up to him, but then if a week later he sees something else, he has to wait until his next payday. KidsSave is a great visual tool to explain the benefits of not spending the entire allowance all at once.

You can download a free trial of KidsSave on the Kidnexions website, or purchase it for $29.95. You might find yourself creating an account and setting up your own savings goals like I did!

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My mailbox has been filling up with Summer Camp brochures in the last few weeks, my boys could spend the summer doing science experiments, learning five new sports, studying cooking or photography or calligraphy. Whew! What ever happened to spending the summer riding your bike and playing Kick-The-Can with the neighborhood kids?

We all want the best for our kids and for them to be successful, but it’s also important to remember that they are just KIDS, and that childhood goes by oh-so-quickly. I know mine sure did! To help parents and kids embrace childhood, the Kellogg’s® Rice Krispies® brand team created the “Childhood Is Calling™: Celebrating Kids Just Being Kids” report. The report offers expert and real-mom insight on the importance of savoring childhood and advice for families to find simple moments of joy and connection. As part of Operation Spark, Childhood is Calling is an educational initiative devoted to providing parents with ways to create meaningful memories with their children.

The Childhood is Calling website has information on Playing for Keeps, “a national not-for-profit organization founded in 1999 that exists to help bridge the gap between what researchers have learned about play and what parents and professionals who impact kids’ lives on a day-to-day, hour-by-hour need to know to help nurture our precious children to their full potential.”

In addition to that, the Rice Krispies “Childhood is Calling” website is also just plain fun. It has links to a music video by Ralph of Ralph’s World, fun games, recipes for Rice Krispie Treats, and “The Tale”, which tells more about the history of Rice Krispies including a dropdown menu with all of the cereal box covers. Show your kids what the Rice Krispies box looked like the year you were born!

For participating in this blog tour, Mom Central and Kellogg’s will be sending me a box of Rice Krispies and two vintage cereal bowls, which I am very excited about because the five of us eat a TON of cereal. I’m also scoping out the Recipe Exchange section of the Childhood is Calling site-people make some really interesting recipes with Rice Krispies! Please check out the Childhood is Calling site when you have a few minutes, both you and your kids are sure to like it.

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