Sasquatch Books Review and Giveaway Birthday Bash

I have said it here before but we L-O-V-E books in our family. We also love Sasquatch Books! They publish books for and from the Pacific Northwest, Alaska, and California. This is near and dear to our hearts because each of these regions holds a special meaning in our family. They have a great selection of books for Children, Food and Wine, Gardening and more. We have reviewed books for Sasquatch before, Larry gets Lost in Seattle is a favorite in our house!! This time we were sent Who Hoo Are You? and What is Green? . These two books are written by Kate Endle and they are beautiful. I love the illustration and picture choices.



Who Hoo Are You is about different animals out there, and each has a description that begins with the letter of the animal. Like a hugely happy hippo and a lovable little lamb, too cute! Baby L loves animals so this was naturally a hit. Great book!




What is Green teaches you about colors and on each page it gives you examples of things that are the same color. For example; orange has a basketball, pumpkin and a carrot and more. This was another great book and we loved the illustrations.

Sasquatch books carries great quality books that will last a lifetime. We will be building our library of books from them for sure!

GIVEAWAY:
Win the two cute books by Kate Endle that I was sent for your own book collection.

 

To Enter This Giveaway:

Follow Sasquatch Books on Twitter

 *Leave a comment letting me know your a follower and be sure to leave your email address*

 

Extra Entries: Can be done after leaving a comment for mandatory entry. If the extra entry says 1 extra entry leave 1 comment and 2 extra entries leave me 2 comments and so on. 

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-Share this giveaway on Twitter or Facebook using the Share Button at the bottom on this post. +2 for each share you do. (can be done once a day)

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-Enter other current giveaways on our blog +1 for each entered

 

*Limited to US residents; 18 years old and above. Giveaway starts June 4, 2011 and ends on June 24, 2011 at midnight PST.  Winner will be emailed and has 48 hours to respond before another winner is selected. I was not paid for this giveaway or post. I was provided for free the books for this review. The opinions are 100% mine and may vary from others.

Sterling Publishing Being Smart Books Review and Giveaway Birthday Bash

Sterling Books is a publishing company that carries books on tons of topics for adults and children's books. The children's categories are endless. They have everything from Easy Reader Classics, History, Hobbies, Magic Tricks and even have IQ tests.

We were lucky enough to receive a few books from the Begin Smart Books category to review. They are beginning books for "smart" babies, these books teach them things they learn as they start life. When you are browsing the web site when you click on a book it gives you all important information any parent would like to see. It tells you the material of the book, the number of pages and the age range of the book among other things. I thought it was a great way to shop because when I was looking for a target age range the fact that it said twelve to eighteen months let me know that was exactly what I was looking for. First we read the book Begin Smart All Gone, ages 12-18 months. All Gone is a simple book that displays first food words like juice and cookie, the pages are chunky and perfect for little hands.
Then we read Begin Smart What Does Baby Say?, ages 12-18 months. What Does Baby Say is a first lift-the-flap book with questions and simple one word answers that helps a child to learn about the art of conversation. Baby L loved the lift-the-flap style book and kept wanting to read it over and over again.
Last we read Begin Smart Splish-Splash , again ages 12-18 months. Splish-Splash is a rhyming story about a teddy bear as he does all of the steps it takes to take a bath all the way to bed time. Baby L loves bath time or any type of water play so this was a great story for him. I love to read stories that rhyme and also loved that the Mama Bear was there to help the whole story, just like me. All the books were great, but Splish-Splash one was by far our favorite.

Sterling Publishing offers so many more books with so many categories to choose from, I definitely recommend checking out the web site to see what they have. You will not be disappointed!

GIVEAWAY:

Win the same Being Smart Books I was sent for your own book collection.

To Enter This Giveaway:

 Visit  Sterling Books and tell me what other kids book you would love to have?

 

 *Leave a comment answering the question and be sure to leave your email address*

Extra Entries: Can be done after leaving a comment for mandatory entry.
If the extra entry says 1 extra entry leave 1 comment and 2 extra entries leave me 2 comments and so on. 

-Follow Sterling Books on Twitter +2

-Follow Frugal Family Tree on GFC (top right hand corner) +2

-Like our new fan page on Facebook Frugal Family Tree +3
-Follow FrugalFamTree on Twitter +2 

-Share this giveaway on Twitter or Facebook using the Share Button at the bottom on this post. +2 for each share you do. (can be done once a day)

-Add our button to your blog and leave a link of where it is located +5 (right hand side) 

-Subscribe to our Emails +2 (right hand side)

-Enter other current giveaways on our blog +1 for each entered

*Limited to US residents; 18 years old and above. Giveaway starts June 4, 2011 and ends on June 24, 2011 at midnight PST.  Winner will be emailed and has 48 hours to respond before another winner is selected. I was not paid for this giveaway or post. I was provided for free the books for this review. The opinions are 100% mine and may vary from others.

1st Birthday Bash Event for Baby L

(Baby L's 1st day in this world...smiling away)

(Baby L almost 1 year...still smiling)

One year old? Where has the time gone? Baby L is turning ONE and I swear I feel like he was just born yesterday! JJ was my 1st born and he was my practice baby...just kidding. He was the one that launched my into the wonderful world of Motherhood. I was new to the Mom gig so I felt like time was going at a good slow and steady pace. I was watching JJ and waiting for him to get big just to see the next "new" thing he was going to do. I loved JJ being a baby but didn't soak it up as much as I have with baby #2. I knew with Baby L that he was going to get big and do all of the big boy stuff soon enough, I needed to sit back and enjoy this time. It felt like the more I watch and prayed for time to slow down, the faster it went. It really has been a great 1st year with Baby L. I have loved to watch him turn into this little person who loves to do everything his big brother does, loves to eat anything he finds on the ground, LOVES animals of all kind, and loves to snuggle his Mama! He thinks that his Dad is the greatest and I know the feeling is mutual.

The first year is so important, babies look to you for the emotional stability and support that they will carry with them for the rest of their lives. You are their world and for the next few years their little personalities and bodies are growing at such a rapid pace. Something I always try to remember is that you can't get the time back. Your children will never be this age again, 1 year or 16 months, or 2 years and so on. When the time is gone, what you have is memories. Keep making those memories and store them close to your heart. They will continue to grow and new stages will happen, you better not blink because you might miss something!

As hard as it is watching my baby turn a WHOLE YEAR OLD, I am so excited to plan his 1st party! The decorations, the cake, the PRESENTS!! It is all going to be awesome.

Stick around and see how we are celebrating Baby L's 1st Birthday here at the Frugal Family Tree. We have lots of great sponsors and lots of great giveaways! Keep checking in with us, we are going to be partying all month!!!!

Old Navy Active Wear Pants Crowdtap Review

I have been on a mission to lose 30 lbs before I turn 30 and the Women's Compression Capri activewear pants I received for being an Old Navy Style Council Member through Crowdtap are inspiring me to try even harder! I have not really lost anything worth blogging about but I do feel like I can do more and feel better when  I am doing it so I am healthier from working out and eating better.

Awkward pose I was doing LOL

The pants feel fit unlike most of my work out clothes. They make me wanna get smaller to look even hotter in them. I like how they are breathable while you are working out in them. They stay in place too so no pulling up your pants and pulling down of them from uncomfortably spots lol! My friend came with me and she got the same ones and loves her too. She wears hers around the house too. The other coupons I sent to my sister and Mom so they will be sporting some awesome Old Navy Activewear pants too!

Old Navy has tons of cute Activewear including some Yoga pants I was eyeballing in the store. I told my hubby hint hint for my bday! 

Would you like to have a chance to work your way into being a awesome crowdtapper like me? Crowdtap is a free site where you take surveys and participate in campaigns to share your opinions. I am highly opinionated so this place is great for me! You can sign up here to start your path to being an insider!

* I was not paid or compensated for this post. Just wanted to share my crowdtap experience as an Old Navy Style Council Member!

California hail storm and a Mother bird needed help

Not Normal for Cali on June 1st!

I know for most states hail is a whatever happens all the time. But for here in sunny California its a big deal when it happens on June 1st! This is suppose to be the first day of summer. There should be sunshine, the smell of BBQ in the air and the sound of the ice cream mans truck driving around the neighborhood. Well it was nothing like that! The day was raining like crazy, thunder so loud it was starting to scare me a bit and then the tornado warnings that were only 20 minutes from here.

It was a weird moment when we were eating dinner with the blinds open to see outside. We do this every night so we can enjoy the sunshine while we eat. It was raining hard but in the distance I could see white soft clouds and blue skies. My husband hates then rain so I told him "Cheer up I can see blue skies just beyond the neighbors house. This will clear up any minute." I was so very wrong! The rain came down harder then very loud thunder followed by the biggest pieces of hail I have ever seen! I was stunned that it was happening so fast. The first hail was about the size of quarters! The whole neighborhood was covered in ice. I wanted to take a picture as it was happening but my husband suggested I stay in side. I am a bit crazy with my camera!

This is after it rained and melted the hail a bit.

To my amazement it hailed for a few minutes and when the pieces got smaller I went outside to snap some photos. I am still stunned this happened on June 1st! I even upload some pictures to our local news since they were asking for pictures from our area. It was quite a wild weather day here in Northern Cali.

The nest that fell from the tree above this recycling bin.

After the sun came back out about an hour later I went outside to pick up some trash that had been blown around from the wind. On top of my recycling can safely sat a nest with 4 eggs in it. It was amazing to me since I never until the day before put my recycling bins in that location under our fruit tree. I usually have them elsewhere but changed spots to make it easier to use the bin. I am so happy I did since I am sure a fall to the ground would have resulted in eggs being broken. I looked up to see the spot right above where the nest once sat. My husband was now outside holding our son showing him the eggs. I wanted to cry at the thought of the Mama birds little babies not in there home. I can imagine she flew off somewhere to hide from the huge pelting hail. I have seen the Mama bird a few times eating the fruit from our tree and I knew I had to help. After all for the first year my sons nickname was Birdie (he is now my Bubba!). I ran back inside and got a pair of plastic sterile gloves so my human scent wouldn't be on her nest. My husband held down some of the surrounding branches and I gently placed her nest back into the spot it once sat. I am happy that my recycling can caught the little eggs and I was able to have a Dr. Dolittle moment to show my son every Mama and her babies are worth caring for.

Do you have any animal rescue stories to share?

Organicville Foods Review and Giveaway

I am always on the look out for new products to try, especially in the kitchen. After you have been cooking dinner for 35 years like I have been, a little change is definitely needed! I love organic foods and as I become more aware of the benefits of eating organic, I try to incorporate them into my daily life. There are now so many organic foods to pick from, not just fruits and vegetables. Do I always eat organic? No. My budget and life don't always allow for it, although I wish it did. I recently came across a line of foods called Organicville Foods.

The company offers pasta sauces, salad dressings, salsas, and much more. Every product is certified organic, gluten free, vegan, and contains no added sugar. For dinner last night, I made pasta using the Portabella Mushroom Pasta Sauce. It was delicious. Portabella mushrooms, ripe tomatoes, and fragrant onions and garlic are blended together to taste so good, you'll want seconds. A simple salad, and some garlic bread sticks were enough to make a delicious yet easy meal.



We have also tried the Mild Salsa, made with agave nectar. That was very tasty, too. It tastes great with tortilla chips or used as a condiment with different dishes. Organicville products can be found in natural food stores and in many grocery stores across the country including Whole Foods, Safeway, and Costco.



You can also order from their online store at www.organicvillefoods.com. I will definitely buy more from this company. The founder is a third generation vegetarian and one of her goals was to make organic foods taste good. I think she has succeeded.

GIVEAWAY:

Win 2 items from the Organicville Foods website of your choice.

To Enter This Giveaway:

What 2 Products would you select from Organicville Foods if you are the winner?

*Leave a comment answering the question and be sure to leave your email address*

Extra Entries: Can be done after leaving a comment for mandatory entry. If the extra entry says 1 extra entry leave 1 comment and 2 extra entries leave me 2 comments and so on.

-Follow Organicville Foods on Twitter +2

-Like Organicville Foods on Facebook +2

-Follow Frugal Family Tree on GFC (top right hand corner) +2

-Like our new fan page on Facebook Frugal Family Tree +2 -Follow FrugalFamTree on Twitter +2

-Add our button to your blog and leave a link of where it is located +5 (top left hand side)

-Vote for us for "Were on the Fence" (left hand side of the blog, just click the button) +2

-Enter other current giveaways on our blog +1 for each entered

*Limited to US residents; 18 years old and above. Giveaway starts June1, 2011 and ends on June 14, 2011 at midnight PST. Winner will be emailed and has 48 hours to respond before another winner is selected. I was not paid for this giveaway or post. I was provided for free the products mentioned for this review from Organicville Foods. The opinions are 100% mine and may vary from other

Peace

Baby L's pajamas say it all....



PEACE baby!

Wii for your Wee Ones

Ever since my brother and sister in law gave us a Wii we have all been hooked! I have loved playing video games since my older brother (the one who gave us a system) used to play the original Nintendo system. We would take turns with him and my sister with a lot of the timing watching him play. I was not very good at games back then but I have awesome memories of playing as kids. We played Mario, Sonic and Castlevania.

My son has oddly mastered some of the games we have on the Wii and hes only 18 months old! I find the games that have no button pushing and only involve him moving the Wii remote around to be the best ones. It makes sense of course since its not in his age category to play the Wii.  He doesn't get the button pushing other than pause. Which is hilarious when he pushes it he will run the Wii remote over to us so we can fix it for him to play again.

Trying to play the Elmo game

We have rented many games to see which ones he could play before buying any. To be frugal we always buy them used. We go to Game Stop since they have a guarantee that they will work. Oddly many of the games for EC (Early Childhood) like the Sesame Street ones involve a lot of button pushing. I have to play those with him and he gets mad that he can't do it himself.

Chuck E Cheese Basketball. He loves this one!

I have made a list of the top 5 games my son at 18 months can play.

1. Mario Tennis (this one he whirls his arm around and scores points and power ups he has a blast)

2. Racquet Sports ( he can do the hitting in this one, not the power hits which need buttons but he still loves to play)

3. Chuck E Cheese ( He loves this! Only drawback is I have to go earn the tokens by playing a game he cant do on his own, but once I have tokens he can play many games and has a blast.)

4. Wii Sports Resort (the sword fighting one he has so much fun, he claps when he knocks his opponent off the pedestal.)

5. Petz Dogz 2 and  Petz Catz 2 ( he likes to see his favorite animals on the screen, there is some button pushing for some things but he can make them run around and dig in the ground. He smiles a lot when he plays this one.)


There are more that we play "together" like Shrek, Toy Story and Garfield he likes to watch the characters but can get bored since it is really not made for him. I just love that we have our Wii to have some frugal fun with! Its great for the super hot summer days that are ahead of us and we can't go out to play. Plus once you buy the games and system its free to play as many times as you want!

What games do your kids love or you love to play on the Wii?

Baby Bedding Zone Website Review

BabyBeddingZone.com

*Sponsored Post

I must admit I did not do enough research on products for my son's bedding. I wish I would have looked online rather than have to pick from what my local stores offered. I was a newbie to online shopping before getting pregnant. I had used eBay only to get ripped off so I was weary about shopping online. I went with basic blue for my son's baby bedding, which is cute but not memorable. I won't have those so cute pics of his nursery like I would have wanted. I guess hindsight is priceless!

While searching for places to help my sister find bedding for Baby L I found Baby Bedding Zone. I spent over an hour looking at everything thinking of what Baby L could use, what would make a cute gift and what a new baby (wishful thinking Im NOT pregnant lol) could use.

Pirate set

I found really cute baby pirate bedding. I love the whole trendiness of Pirates with the new movies coming out and the products that come along with it. Its a fun theme. Swashbucklers and Sea Captains Ahoy!!! We played the New Pirates of the Caribbean Wii game, it was a blast!

Fire Truck set

For my next baby I want to do a different color from the basic blue, pink or yellow. I am thinking Red! The site had some really cute red baby bedding. My favorites were the Fire Truck Bedding Set and the Wild West Bedding Set. Who doesn't love cowboys and fire fighters!

Monkey set

Since my favorite color is brown I had to look at all the selections for that color. My husband told me the next baby not so much brown. I am not sure about that!  My son has brown on his crib, stroller and many of his outfits. There are many selections for the brown category. I found frogs, dinosaurs, sports themes, fishing, cowboys and so much more. My favorite brown one is the Monkey set. My son has an adorable monkey costume and monkey themed clothing that I adore.

Madison Set

For the Mommies that have little girls they have some really sweet pink and black baby bedding. The two sets I liked in that category were named girls names I love too! The Madison set and Sophia set are really stylish! Both sets also had FREE Shipping. As do many of the sets on the website.

Overall I really liked the variety if their selections and the Free Shipping on many of their items. They also sell decor, kids bedding and toddler bedding. I found some great deals and one of my favorite deals was the Little Farmer Set (I have my dreams of owning a farm!) It is 50% off original price for only $74.99 and free shipping!

Little Farmer set

*This is a sponsored post. I reviewed the site and gave my honest opinion about their products.

The Muppets Movie Coming in November 2011

The Muppets are coming to the Big Screen!! I am so excited about this! I always say the classics like The Muppets need to make a come back. (I am also excited about The Smurfs, can't wait to see that)

My sister and I would watch The Muppets cartoon where they were all babies. I loved that show! We also watched a few of the Muppets movies and they were always fun. My favorite is Miss Piggy then Fonzie. I had a frog phase for a while and was in love with Kermie!

This movie will be in the theaters close to my son and nephew birthdays. A perfect time to take them to the movies for a fun movie. Hopefully I can get my son to sit still for a movie, maybe not but I can hope! I look forward to the previews of this movie so I can get a better glimpse at the movie.

Here is what the movie will be about:

On vacation in Los Angeles, Walter, the world's biggest Muppet fan, and his friends Gary (Jason Segel) and Mary (Amy Adams) from Smalltown, USA, discover the nefarious plan of oilman Tex Richman (Chris Cooper) to raze the Muppet Theater and drill for the oil recently discovered beneath the Muppets' former stomping grounds. To stage The Greatest Muppet Telethon Ever and raise the $10 million needed to save the theater, Walter, Mary and Gary help Kermit reunite the Muppets, who have all gone their separate ways: Fozzie now performs with a Reno casino tribute band called the Moopets, Miss Piggy is a plus-size fashion editor at Vogue Paris, Animal is in a Santa Barbara clinic for anger management, and Gonzo is a high-powered plumbing magnate. With secret, signature, celebrity cameos, “The Muppets” hits the big screen Nov. 23, 2011.

Website: Disney.com/Muppets
Become a fan on Facebook: Facebook.com/Muppets
Follow them on Twitter: Twitter.com/MuppetsStudio


Who is your favorite character or what Muppets movie do you love?