Book Review: My Magic Breath by Nick Ortner and Alison Taylor

Short, but impactful, My Magic Breath is a children's book that teaches the importance of mindful breathing.  Using beautiful, sprawling illustrations (by Michelle Polizzi), the book gives kids the instructions needed to change their thoughts into deep, magic breaths and exhale them to create something amazing. 

Since my kindergartner is rather sensitive when it comes to his emotions, I was excited to be able to try this book with him.  He loves reading and being read to and this book was able to keep his attention as it wasn't too wordy, but he also enjoyed the breathing exercises that went along with it.  At the time, he was in a good mood, but I definitely think reading this when he is upset would be a great way to redirect his negative emotions.

When he outgrows the book itself, I intend to donate it to his elementary school, as I think that it would be a great book to have in a classroom with younger students.  I was given a gratis copy for review.

This is a great book to keep at home or take along on trips, as it helps kids process their emotions and turn them into something beautiful.  With the author's permission, I have created a video of a reading of the book.  Definitely get your own copy as this video doesn't replace the great bond you can share by reading it aloud with your child.  My Magic Breath is available for purchase on May 15!

Book Review & #Giveaway: T-Rex Trying and Trying by Hugh Murphy

 I have been completely infatuated with the T-Rex meme craze since I saw my first one.  I loved it so much that I bought my husband a tee shirt that says "T-Rex hates push-ups."  Any meme that shows up on my feed about the many struggles of T-Rex, quickly gets shared!  Well, imagine my thrill to find out that someone took that idea and ran with it... in a book!  I missed out knowing that Hugh Murphy published T-Rex Trying, but was fortunate enough to receive a gratis copy of T-Rex Trying and Trying: The Unfortunate Trials of a Modern Prehistoric Family.  And it is absolutely adooooooorable!

Of course, one must feel sorry for poor T-Rex and his family, but it is hard not to let a giggle escape when we see pictures of T-Rex trying to do such simple tasks as trying to hula-hoop or even when poor T-Rex tries to spoon She-Rex in bed at night.

Poor T-Rex can't even Trick or Treat!

GIVEAWAY DETAILS:  Hey, I don't have to hog all the laughs!  One of you lucky readers can win themselves a copy of this book too!  (Or if you can't keep your pants on, go buy yourself one!)  This would be great to hog all to yourself, or even be a great gift!  Heck, buy 50 and give one to everybody you know!  Anywho, enter below, but only if you live in the United States.  Sorry, rest of the world!

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Book Review: Notes to My Future Husband by The Coquette

I'm all for humorous books... I'm all for humorous books that are written in a super easy to read format.  Well, this book is both.  And although that is the case, I'm not saying it's perfect by any means... I like it, I love it, and I hate it.  Here's why:

This book was written by a woman (who is apparently a popular advice columnist on The Daily) who is letting her future husband know the low down on what being with her will entail.  According to the book she is currently single and had (what I interpreted as) a bitter breakup the last guy around.

Well, I definitely agree on a lot of her feelings.  A big wedding is dumb, I love red velvet cake, bachelor/bachelorette parties are great, guys should have guy nights after marriage with friends and girls should too.  The author is definitely pro separate, yet together lives.  She is very modern woman in her theories and does not take any of that macho bull hockey from guys (so she says.)

But here's my beef.  First and foremost, she keeps referring to her future husband as "dude."  I flippin' hate that... a lot.  Secondly, she seems... not... um... how do I put this nicely... like she's destined to be single forever.   Granted, I do think that there are plenty of guys who would be okay with her forward thinking attitude.  I think people can appreciate her openness and candor, but honestly, I think she's got a lot of things that she seems committed to being absolutes.  I think there are guys who would like some say on some of those topics.  And she seems a little too bossy and "bitchy" (her words, not mine.)  I wish her good luck in finding a guy... but she made it clear she can go through life without one.

Definitely a cute read~ light hearted and witty.  I actually gave it to my husband to read some of it just so that he realized he could have had it much worse, lol.

I just hope that the author doesn't find me, because apparently she is not afraid to "cut a bitch."

I Said No! by Zack and Kimberly King (book review)

One of the more difficult parts of parenting is talking to your kids about the "touchy" subjects.  As a parent, it is our job to let them know things about life, but how do you go about talking about them?

This book came at the perfect time for me.  My daughter is now 6 and there have been some questionable things happening when she is at her dad's and I felt like now is the perfect time to talk to her about inappropriate touching.  I can't be around her all the time and therefore I am going to have to hope that she can keep herself safe when I'm not there.

"I Said No! A kid-to-kid guide to keeping private parts private" gives the perspective from both a mother and her son's point of view.  Zack attended a slumber party where his friend asked him to touch his privates and told him all the cool kids do it.  Zack realized this was a red flag and tried to tell his friend's mom, but she did nothing about it.  Zack hid out in the bathroom and told his mom immediately when he got home the next day.

This book goes over things for children to say, red flags and green flags and people who are allowed to see your privates.  Also, it gives ideas on what to do if someone is inappropriate with you.  This is great because students are not born with the realization of what is okay and not okay when it comes to privates.  I remember when my daughter was around 2 or 3 and she had a yearly exam with her pediatrician.  He asked my permission to check her over and told her that he asked my permission because no one should be allowed to look at or touch her privates without her permission unless it is mommy or daddy.

Okay, so now that I've told you all the great things, I will give you my only beef with this book.  I didn't like the little pauses for discussion.  Of course I planned to discuss the book with my child, but I didn't need the prompts.


MOTR Grade: A-

I definitely think this is a book every parent should have in their collection and it should be read several times as your children get older.

Crazy Things Parents Text by Stephen and Wayne Miltz book review

OMGosh, guys, this book can be summed up in two words... "hi" and "larious!"  Apparently their is a wesbite created by Stephen and Wayne Miltz that is CrazyThingsParentsText.com.

The book is pretty much self explanatory.  It's a collection of texts between a child and their parent.  It is organized into categories with texts that have similar themes.  Well, within 2 pages, I was LOL'ing.  Literally.  I laughed out loud and my daughter asked me what was funny and I explained it to her.  Since she was 5, she didn't get it, but man, it was funny.  Now I find myself using every free 5 minutes I have to keep forging ahead because it is so funny.  Of course, being a child of parents who don't know how to text (and Dad refuses because it costs X amount of pennies each text) I don't know how a conversation via text would go with my parents.  I did MMS a picture of an open wound to my dad when I was getting stitches in the ER.  I got a phone call from my mom 2 hours later asking what it was.

Also, some of the content between parent and child in this book is quite... blunt and things that I would be super afeared to talk to my parents about.

But, long story short... if you have a sense of humor at any age, you will get a huge kick out of this book!!!

MOTR Grade:  A+

This title will be available for purchase September 1, 2011.

Sweet Valley Confidential by Francine Pascal

Are you familiar with the Sweet Valley series of the past?  I am!  I was IN LOVE with these books!  When I was in elementary school I read all of the Sweet Valley Twin books.  I would anxiously await the new arrivals and run out and buy them.  As I got into middle school, I start reading the Sweet Valley High series.  I was ecstatic about these and would go to used book stores and try to get the entire series.  At one point I think I had all of both series, but get this- I boxed them up and put them in my parents' basement and haven't seen them since.  The optimistic part of me wants to say that they are still buried somewhere down there.  The pessimistic side of me fears that my sister stole them and sold them.  I can't think of another logical explanation because I can't imagine my parents just throwing them away without asking me!  Then there was the short lived series The Unicorn Club, which I wasn't a big fan of.

Anyway, fast forward to today.  Francine Pascal has realized that some of her fans are probably wondering what would have happened to Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield after becoming adults and moving out of Sweet Valley. 

I was THRILLED when I got offered this book to review.  It was like they had somehow received full documentation of my interests from the past and realized I'd love to review this... but that's probably not what happened.  When I received it I was giddy and stoked to get started.

Okay, now onto what I thought.  The book established that Elizabeth had pursued journalism and moved to New York to make her way into the writing world.  This was after a huge fallout with Jessica when something completely unforgivable happened.  I won't tell you what because it's a shocker.  Jessica is still in Sweet Valley living with her boyfriend (or was he her fiancee, I can't remember.)  She is beyond desolate that Elizabeth refuses to speak to her.  In fact, most of her old friends are so shocked by what happened that they feel awkward being around her.  Life is extremely rough for Jessica, but it's not that easy for Elizabeth either.  The book details the struggles they have dealing with their own problems while trying to repair a bond that no one thought could be broken.

I wish I could say I loved the book.  I really tried.  I just had a couple things that really bugged me.  The first was all the flash backs and references to things in the past.  It happened quite a bit and I found it extremely annoying.  I ended up just skipping all those parts.  The other thing that bothered me, which I'm sure wouldn't bother a lot of other people is that I was so used to the writing in Sweet Valley High being mostly PG and PG-13 on the rare occasion.  So, this book was a bit more graphic and talked more about sex and it made me sad because it showed a change in writing style that I wasn't quite able to readily adopt.  I guarantee that isn't going to be the way most of the other readers feel.  I just had a loyalty to the previous writing.

Otherwise, it was good catching up with the girls and I would definitely say that people who were die hard fans like I was would be really interested.

MOTR Grade:  B

Melissa & Doug Play Kitchen Review & Giveaway!!!

GREAT CHRISTMAS GIFT IDEA ALERT!!!!

As I've mentioned before, I'm a HUGE fan of Melissa & Doug.  Originally I was just super impressed by the quality of the puzzles.  They are a sturdy wood.  Well, I soon started to realize all the awesome toys they had besides puzzles!  For instance, we have a sandwich set, a cookie set, a pizza set to name a few.  They are very original and are also made of wood.  My kids love them!  Well, I had the opportunity to review a Melissa & Doug Play Kitchen and I can tell you, the excitement was overwhelming.  When I found out I was approved, I was so giddy I had to be sedated.


Well, the big day came and it arrived in the mail.  I had to start working on it immediately. So I worked on it.

 

And worked on it...

And worked on it...

And four hours later, I was done!!!

Yep, that's right, it took me FOUR HOURS to put together.  I worked on it non-stop all by myself.  The directions were easy to understand, it was just really time consuming.  Was it worth it?  YOU BET!  My kids have played with it every single day since I put it together.  It's adorable and very interactive.  The over opens, the microwave, the cabinet, the refrigerator, the freezer.  It's super cute and we all love it.  Plus, it's a sturdy, thick wood and I have no doubt it will last for years!  Now all my children will have jealous friends.

MOTR Grade: A+

Right now the Melissa & Doug Play Kitchen is on sale at Gummy Lump!  They are also on Facebook, Twitter, and have a blog

GIVEAWAY DETAILS:

Gummy Lump has been awesome enough to offer an additional kitchen to one of my lucky readers!  How cool is that?!  Contest will run through October 13th and ends at noon central.  Open to US residents only.

To enter:

Visit Gummy Lump's website and tell me one thing you think your kids would love to get for Christmas. 

Additional entries:
1) Follow Gummy Lump on Twitter.
2) Like Gummy Lump on Facebook. 
3) Post a tweet about this giveaway with a link and @gummylump in the tweet.

Thanks and good luck!   

*Disclaimer: this product was given to me for free to review from Gummy Lump, Melissa & Doug and Tomoson.

This Product Was a Free Giveaway

District 9: Oscar Nominee

I'm going to attempt to watch all the Oscar nominated movies and give my opinion. This will be hard cause I REALLY don't wanna watch TheHurt Locker, lol. I've already reviewed Up.

I was very reluctant to watch District 9 because after reading about it, it sounded too sci-fi for me. I'm not a huge fan of alien movies.

Boy, was I wrong! This movie is crazy because you can't explain it to people without it sounding terrible, but it is so good! I even bought it after renting it through Netflix. The premise is that aliens show up twenty years ago over Johannesburg, South Africa. It turns out there's a bunch of dying aliens on board. They bring them down and segregate them into these slummy shacks. The aliens start intertwining in human life and the humans are not happy. MNU has been contracted to move them from their slums to a concentration camp outside the city so they don't bother the humans.

During the evictions, Wickus (the guy who is in charge of getting signatures on the eviction notices) gets sprayed by an alien toxin and he begins to morph slowly into an alien. Meanwhile, Christopher (an alien) is working on some illegal stuff and tries to protect he and his son from being killed.

Wickus gets taken to a lab and experimented on, but escapes and goes on the run, where he meets up again with Christopher.

Okay, you'll have to watch to find out the rest, but I loved this movie! I felt as though it was a metaphor for how many people treat others that are "alien" to them. They are treated like second-class citizens and it's as if they are not human. Anyway, maybe I read too much into it, but if you view it for the symbolism, it's outstanding!

Family Time Factor: It's awfully gory, so I wouldn't recommend it for young kids.

MOTR Grade: A