The Rattles CD Review and Giveaway

Music is my son's favorite thing ever! He dances to commercials, elevator music, he even moved and grooved at the restaurant during his birthday when they turned on the background music. If it has instrumentals in it he is dancing! I was very jazzed that we had the opportunity to review The Rattles Band CD. We loved the fun upbeat quality of all the songs. The characters are cool and we loved that they are animals. My son danced his little heart out to the CD but I would have to say his favorites are Rattle On, he rocked his little body like crazy for this one and Shipwreck in the Sky he stuck out his tongue and was being silly while he danced. I really enjoyed reviewing this CD and look forward to more songs from The Rattles Band.



Here is a little info from the website about The Rattles Band:

The Rattles product models the following important skills for preschoolers:
Music Appreciation skills as:

• 1. Identifying different musical instruments in a band.
• 2. Awareness of tempo, rhythm, and dynamics in music.
• 3. Developing body awareness by moving to a rhythmic beat.
• 4. Awareness of how music tells a story, much like a book.

Social Skills such as:

• 1. Learning cooperation between band members and friends.
• 2. Conflict resolution: how to work out differences.

In honor of my son's 1st birthday The Rattles Band has agreed to send one of my lucky readers The Rattles Band CD.

Here is how to enter the giveaway for The Rattles Band CD:
MANDATORY Entry: "Like" The Rattles Band on Facebook
Leave your email address in your comment so I can contact the winner.

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 Me on GFC (right top corner) +3
Follow Me on Twitter +2
"Like" my fan page on Facebook +4
Follow The Rattles Band on Twitter +2
Visit The Rattles Band and tell me your favorite character +2
Enter any of the other giveaways during the 1st birthday bash +2 entries for each giveaway entered.
Blog about this giveaway and leave me the link +10

*Limited to US residents; 18 years old and above. Giveaway starts November 22, 2010 and ends December 7, 2010 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 a free copy of The Rattles Band CD to review for this post.

Balloonatiks: The Collectors Set DVD Review and Giveaway

I always like to review DVDs from smaller companies and discover new characters to share with my son and other moms. I liked the idea of  Balloonatiks because they are super heroes that battle evil. They are all made of balloons and have cool manes like Flator, Squeeker, Airbrain, Leaky and more. The graphics are great and is a  very colorful cartoon.  I think I may have liked it a bit more than my son. I think he found it hard to follow since it was a bit above his age group, duh to mom I should have looked more closely to the age group. I think my nephew would enjoy this DVD a little more than my son. Its very fun and the classic good over evil with the twist of them all being balloons. There are cute hot air and balloon references in the movie that were funny. Overall it was a fun adventure DVD with lots of fun characters.

In honor of my son's 1st birthday Balloonatiks has agreed to send one of my lucky readers Balloonatiks: The Collectors Set  DVD.

Here is how to enter the giveaway for the Balloonatiks: The Collectors Set  DVD :
MANDATORY Entry: "Like" Balloonatiks on Facebook
Leave your email address in your comment so I can contact the winner.

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 Me on GFC (right top corner) +3
Follow Me on Twitter +2
"Like" my fan page on Facebook +4
Follow Balloonatiks on Twitter +2
Visit Balloonatiks and tell me your favorite character +2
Enter any of the other giveaways during the 1st birthday bash +2 entries for each giveaway entered.
Blog about this giveaway and leave me the link +10

*Limited to US residents; 18 years old and above. Giveaway starts November 22, 2010 and ends December 7, 2010 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 a free copy of  Balloonatiks: The Collectors Set  DVD to review for this post.

Norah Jones New Album: Featuring

                                                            

I have always been a fan of Norah Jones. Her smooth yet raspy voice is soul cleansing. I have listened to all of her albums and was excited to have the chance to review her new album "Featuring". This CD is full of well known artist singing duets and collaborations with Norah from songs recorded from the years 2001-2010.
This album includes singers such as Foo Fighters, Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, Ryan Adams, Outkast, Q-Tip, and so many other great artist. I feel like there is one song for everyone on this album. This would be great to play at a get together for a diverse CD.
Here is the full list of songs on the album:

1. Love Me – The Little Willies
2. Virginia Moon – The Foo Fighters featuring Norah Jones
3. Turn Them – Sean Bones featuring Norah Jones
4. Baby It's Cold Outside – Willie Nelson featuring Norah Jones
5. Bull Rider – Norah Jones and Sasha Dobson
6. Ruler Of My Heart – Dirty Dozen Brass Band featuring Norah Jones
7. The Best Part – El Madmo  
8. Take Off Your Cool – OutKast featuring Norah Jones
9. Life Is Better – Q-Tip featuring Norah Jones
10. Soon The New Day – Talib Kweli featuring Norah Jones
11. Little Lou, Prophet Jack, Ugly John – Belle & Sebastian featuring Norah Jones
12. Here We Go Again – Ray Charles featuring Norah Jones
13. Loretta – Norah Jones featuring Gillian Welch and David Rawlings
14. Dear John – Ryan Adams featuring Norah Jones
15. Creepin' In – Norah Jones featuring Dolly Parton
16. Court & Spark – Herbie Hancock featuring Norah Jones
17. More Than This – Charlie Hunter featuring Norah Jones
18. Blue Bayou – Norah Jones featuring M. Ward

I listen to every song at least a few times and have definite favorites.  Track 3 is a very soothing song to me, I love Norah's voice in this one. I loved track 4 and 15 since Norah was singing with country music's classic superstars. The blend of her voice with country is very pleasing to hear. Track 9 with Q-Tip is a fun upbeat song I enjoyed dancing to. My number one favorite was definitely track 17, her voice is beautiful in this one.

This CD would make a great host gift or stocking stuffer for any music fan. I know for sure my sisters and mom will have this CD on their holiday wish list.

You can buy this CD right now in stores and online. Amazon has it available for $9.99














I am a member of One2One Network and received a free CD to review for my post. This is my own opinion and may vary from other opinions.

1st Birthday Bash 10 Days of Giveaways Day 4: Entertainment

I know as a mom I have many options for entertainment for my son. When we are at home I try to provide entertainment that he and I can do together. I enjoy using DVDs and CDs as a way for us to dance and sing together. I like to buy him DVDs that have lots of music and dancing instead of just something he sits and watches. I know a lot of moms don't like to let there kids watch tv but I feel with the right DVDs it can be an interactive learning experience. I like to first watch or listen to something before I let him. I have found a few products that I have not let him have after hearing or seeing things I felt were not appropriate for him. Generally that doesn't happen as long as I find him things within his age group. While shopping for presents for him I constantly found stuff I thought was "cute" but were not yet ready for his age group. I found myself taking a step back and realizing there is so much time for him to have DVDs and CDs as he gets older and for me to enjoy the silly DVDs and baby music that we share now.
Do you recommend a good DVD or CD a 1 year old would enjoy? I love hearing what other moms are watching.

Little Green Books Review and Giveaway *2* Winners

While searching for great books to buy for my son I realized even though he is 1 now he still might need a few soft books. Some of the books I have been reviewing for the birthday bash have been used to throw at me by my mischievous little guy. With that in mind I found some cute and soft books from Little Green Book. The two soft books are Little Monkey and Little Panda. I was thrilled that they were soft and he definitely enjoyed being able to put both books in his hands and go wild like they were nunchucks. He was laughing so hard when he realized I was laughing at how silly he was being. He did eventually let me read the stories to him and they were very cute. The two books are sweet and go together well.

We also had the opportunity to review two additional books My First Garden and What Do You See?. These two books are wonderful to read. They foster the habits about gardening and endangered species that I want to teach my son. The basket design on the garden book and the lift flaps in the seeing book make the books interactive as well as cute! A few great things about these books is that they are manufactured environmentally friendly and are printed on recycled materials with vegetable or soy inks.
Little Green Books website also has games and green tips for learning that I found to be very useful.

In honor of my son's 1st birthday Little Green Books has agreed to send 2 of my lucky readers the set of 4 books that I reviewed for this post.

Here is how to enter the giveaway for the 4 Little Green Books:
MANDATORY Entry: Follow Little Green Books (Simon & Schuster) on Twitter
Leave your email address in your comment so I can contact the winner.

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 Me on GFC (right top corner) +3
Follow Me on Twitter +2
"Like" my fan page on Facebook +4
Visit Little Green Books and tell me your favorite book +2
Visit Little Green Books and tell me one word from the Green Glossary +2
Enter any of the other giveaways during the 1st birthday bash +2 entries for each giveaway entered.
Blog about this giveaway and leave me the link +10

*Limited to US residents; 18 years old and above. Giveaway starts November 22, 2010 and ends December 6, 2010 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 a free copy of the 4 books I reviewed in this post.