So, today I went shopping for my 5-year-old niece’s birthday present. Since I’m sure that she has every toy ever created thanks to grandparents who believe she hung the moon, it makes it really hard to buy something with a ‘wow’ factor. Maybe when she’s older I will buy her something like a Rolex President watch. I bet grandma didn’t get her one of those.

After shopping for about 30 minutes and getting tired of chasing Rae around the toy store, I had an epiphany. Why not get her a board game?

There are a lot of games for this age group like Chutes and Ladders, Hi-Ho Cherry Oh, and What’s in Ned’s Head? I was all set to get What’s in Ned’s Head? but then I noticed the price - $23. I had picked up this game second hand, so I know it would be enjoyed by the kids but also know it probably won’t last that long as poor Ned can’t take much abuse. So, I moved on down the aisle.

Toss Across caught my attention. I loved this game as a kid and deemed it the perfect gift. And at $15 wasn’t a bad deal either. Toss Across is a plastic Tic Tac Toe board that players throw bean bags at to try to turn the board pieces to either and X or 0. The first player with 3 in a row wins the game.

I think I have bought this game before for a birthday present but really believe it was for a nephew. At least I hope so. What a birthday faux pas that will be - buying the same gift previously given.

Our local playdate group was planning to do colored bubbles at a recent gathering. Raegan loves bubbles, so I hated we missed it. Since we couldn’t make it, I decided that we could do colored bubbles at home. A quick Google search came up with the magic formula for colored bubbles:

Bubble solution
powdered tempera paint

Voila! That’s it. So, I bought some bubbles and couldn’t find powdered tempera paint. I just bought the regular kind and hoped that it would work, too. I first place the bubble solution in a jar and then added some paint:

I then stirred like crazy because the paint just didn’t want to mix in with the bubble solution. The next day we headed out to test it. Raegan, of course, took charge of it and promptly spilled it on the ground. This was taken right before the incident:

So, I went back inside and do it again. This time I added more paint since I was rushing to get it done. I just squeezed the paint bottle over the solution. Probably about a teaspoon or more of paint plopped into the jar. I then put the lid on the jar and shook it vigorously for a few seconds. The color was a darker red and mixed a lot better.

Now it was time for the test. I decided to use Raegan’s bubble blowing machine so I could get some pictures of the bubbles. They had a light tint to them. You might can see the red drop of paint that is at the bottom of the bubble. This has me thinking that maybe the powder paint is a better way to go:

I will probably try the colored bubbles experiment again when I find the powder tempera paint, which might be a craft store purchase.

Within the past month, Raegan has become very smitten with Barney, the purple dinosaur. She can watch the same episodes over and over. Even if she doesn’t watch it, she likes to have it on as ‘white noise.’

I knew that this day would come that she would discover the charm of Barney as most kids in our family have went through loving the purple dinosaur. Hopefully we can survive it with our sanity. Today my husband came home singing a Barney song! We watch it all day, dream about it at night. There is no escape from Barney.

My child officially has her first favorite outfit. It’s a pair of Elmo pajamas that she hates to take off. At first I was surprised she would even wear them since they are kind of a snug fit as she doesn’t seem to like tight clothing. I guess two-year-olds are full of surprises.

For Christmas I need to find her an Elmo outfit since I can offer it when we need to take off the PJs. It might be hard to find as baby clothes are too small but kid clothing is way too big. I love her at this age but finding clothing that fits has become quite challenging.

At least I can be thankful that Elmo is still quite popular, so hopefully I can find something for her even if it is a little big. Thank goodness her Grandma sews.

The Marine Toys for Tots is a great charity that collects new, unwrapped toys from October through December. They collect toys until December 22nd. There are several drop-off places like Toys R Us that you can leave donated toys at. You can also make a cash donation at Toys R Us. In fact, if you shop there this season, you might be asked if you’d like to give. It’s really easy to give $1, $5, $10, or more at the time of checkout. There is also another interesting way to help out the Toys for Tots program that I recently learned about.

If you drink Coca Cola, then you can help out the program. All it will take is saving those red caps on your Coke product. Enter the code at My Coke Rewards.com and then donate those points to the Toys for Tots. Coca-Cola is giving away $100,000 in gifts but will give Toys for Tots the donated points to get additional toys. So far, they have had donated almost 2 1/2 million points!

It’s a great way to give that will only take a little of your time to put in codes. You will have to register for the My Coke Rewards website, and you can put up to 10 codes in a day.

Usually after devouring Halloween candy for a week, I feel tempted to buy hydroxycut or some other diet supplement to help lose all the weight I’ve gained. This year, though, I’ve taken a different approach to Halloween treats.

Some examples of treats I will be handing out this year include chocolate covered pretzels, Teddy Grahams, Ritz Crackers, and mini granola bars. I also might even pass out individual popcorn bags. Kids just want loot from your home, and Moms will appreciate the thoughtfulness of better, smarter Halloween treats.

Soon children will be knocking on your door and looking for a handout. Of course they will be hoping to get a sweat treat this Halloween. You know some chocolate or sweet tarts or candy corn make all fine treat choices. Candy is dandy indeed but there are some alternatives that even the biggest sweet tooth wouldn’t mind receiving.

A quick look through the Halloween aisle that was probably stocked sometime at the end of August has some choices for treats. Pencils, cups, straws, even vampire teeth can be bought in bulk to give out this Halloween. The prices aren’t that bad especially if you shop at a super center.

Take a quick trip through toys to find some other ideas for Halloween goodies. There is a section at our Wal-Mart that has toys for 88 cents and up. I found a bag of 25 dinosaurs for $2. I added some bangle bracelets for 88 cents to give some choices for the kids. All together, I spent less than two bags of candy and got some neat Halloween treats. I already had some pencils that I had picked up last year after Halloween and tucked away for this year. After Halloween is a great time to pick up decorations since they will be really cheap.

I would rather buy cheap trinkets to pass out than candy because we don’t get that many trick or treaters, so I’d rather have stuff than candy as I’m less tempted to eat toys than chocolate.

When the Parent Bloggers Network sent out a call for wacky warning labels, I knew it would be easy to find some crazy warnings. I remember once signing a lease with at least 5 pages of statements like “I will not hook up a washer to the kitchen sink.” The landlord had informed us that each statement was a situation that had come up where a tenant was trying to do what common sense should tell you is a bad idea.

I didn’t have to look too far to find some crazy warning labels. Here is my favorite. It is from Rae’s step stool she uses when she brushes her teeth.

It’s a great little stool, but I was surprised to read the warning label that stated it is not to be used as a car seat. I wonder the story behind that warning.

The kitchen bag warning was also an interesting read, reminding me not to use bags in a baby crib.

And finally also from the kitchen is the warning from the Ziploc storage containers that I highly recommend since they are so cheap and work well. Who would have guessed that after warming something up in a container in the microwave that it would be hot? Inconceivable!

There are some crazy warning labels on products no doubt. Sadly most have been placed by either someone doing the exact thing in the warning - like with my lease agreement - or someone sued the company over the product not warning them of the “danger.” Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse sponsored this week’s fun blog blast to show the most off-the-wall warning label we could find. You can visit the Parent Bloggers Network to join in the fun. I just had to travel no further than my own kitchen and bathroom to find some crazy warning labels. It’s really not that hard once you actually start looking around.

There are several products that have come out over the years that I just didn’t get why anyone would want one until now. Now that I have a child, I see the purpose in a lot of those products. From time to time, I will write about each of these products my original thought and then my amended thought now that I am a parent.

The first product is one that I think would be ideal for anyone with a toddler. At some point each night, Rae will wake up asking for her milk. I remember seeing these mini refrigerators advertised and thinking who would want a small fridge that would only hold about one 12 ounce can of soda. A mini fridge would be great to have right beside her bed to keep her milk. It’s really annoying to stumble around in the middle of the night and fill a sippy cup with milk.

What I use to think was a product that held no actual purpose could be quite handy indeed.

My child loves to wear stickers. I blame the Wal-Mart greeter who gives her two, one for each hand, when we go there. Now she thinks that she must wear stickers on her. I guess if I catch her looking at a tattoo design gallery then I will begin to worry about her fascination with putting stickers on her body.

Right now a pack of stickers is a cheap way to pacify her when we are at the store. I know as the gets older, it will be harder to impress her. It’s kind of cool that even the littlest things just amaze her. Oh, if it would only last.

I’m not sure we ever grow out of a love for stickers. My husband still loves them and likes to buy those in the vending machines for 50 cents. Who knows, this might just be the beginning to her hobby of collecting stickers.