What did you do with your time before kids?

The other day I sold a smaller memory card I had in my camera on Ebay. I thought oh I better make sure there is nothing on there before I ship this. Sure enough there were pictures from about 3 years ago on it. It was so weird to see the pictures. I told my husband these are before Bubba (our son) was born. We looked at them and thought to our selves what on earth did we do with our time before he was born. The obvious of work and stuff but like our spare time we wondered about, especially now that there is no "spare" time.

Other than the pictures of us on the memory card there were ones of my old hobby nature photography. There were over 50 pics of trees, flowers, clouds and animals. One time when my husbands grandmother came to visit a few years ago she asked if I had any friends since I only had pics of nature. Of course she was messing with me she is a hilarious lady but at the time I thought nothing of it. Now as a mom I realize how much fuller my life is having my sweet guy. I no longer have a zillion pictures of nature but I do now have a gazillion pictures of the greatest little creation of nature in my eyes.

What was a hobby you had before your kids were born? Did you give it up or find a way to incorporate it into your life as a parent?

Ella's Kitchen Organic Fruit Pouches Review and Giveaway

I am a huge fan of fruit in a pouch. It makes it a million times easier to get my son to eat fruit. Often times he thinks its hilarious to throw his bananas, blueberries or orange slices across the kitchen. He claps when he sees them splatter onto the floor. But when I give him Ella's Kitchen pouches he thinks they are something special. He won't throw them at all, heck he won't even let me take it once its empty! I am happy to see him love the flavors since they not only have fruit but they also have veggies in them.

Ella's Kitchen is 100% organic and they taste really great. My son enjoyed all the flavors they sent us.  I knew he would love the Apples and Bananas since anything with banana in it he goes, well bananas for! I was surprised how much he enjoyed the Broccoli, Pears & Peas pouch. Normally he will not eat broccoli but he does love peas so I think the two flavors with the sweetness of the pears made it perfect for him. As a picky eater myself as a kid I love the idea of products like Ella's that hide the veggies in with the sweet fruit. I think any way I can get more veggies especially organic ones for him to eat is wonderful!

Strawberries in this one, most times strawberries end up throw across the room!

 One of the products I did not know Ella's Kitchen made was the Smoothie Fruits. I took a taste too it was hard to resist the flavor combos. My son enjoyed them both I loved the Green One. I am sure these would be great in any diaper bag or lunch box for the new school year. Its easy to eat and so good!

An awesome way to get him to eat broccoli!

There are two more flavors I really want my son to try. The Sweet Potatoes, Pumpkin, Blueberries & Apple flavor and the Spinach, Apples & Rutabaga flavor. They sound so tasty I would even like to try them. You can buy Ella's Kitchen products at most Target stores, Babies R Us and Toys R Us.

GIVEAWAY

Win a box with Ella's Kitchen Pouches like the one I received.

 

To Enter This Giveaway: 

What is the fruit or veggie your kids or grandkids will not eat?

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*Limited to US residents; 18 years old and above. Giveaway starts July 19, 2011 and ends on July 31, 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 provide the item in this review for free by the company or PR firm representing them. The opinions on this item are 100% mine and may vary from others.

Are you near the Sacramento Ca Area? Mel Rapton Honda Kids Day 7/31

If you live near the Sacramento CA area Mel Rapton Honda will be hosting a Day of Play on July 31st from 11am to 3pm. The event will be held at the Mel Rapton Honda location at 3630 Fulton Ave. The event will have bounce houses & slides, face painting, carnival games, balloon animals and more! The mobile Video Game Bus with the PS3, XBOX360 and Wii playing Guitar Hero and Rock Band will be there. Dance performance by Fancy Feet Dance Academy at 11:30 and the Radio Disney Road Crew performs from 12:00 to 1:30. You can also see a fire truck from the Sacramento Metro Fire Department and have your car seat safety check by the CHP. Special prices on BBQ lunches with the proceeds benefiting the Children's Receiving Home of Sacramento. You can also purchase raffle tickets to win River Cats tickets, a bedroom set from Goore's Furniture and more. This will be a fun event for a good cause that all kids are welcome to attend and have fun. You can read more about the event on the Mel Rapton website.

New Flavors Create New Faces

I adore the faces my son makes. He is so comical and you can see every emotion on his face. We have been trying new flavors of food and having fun doing so. Last night we had combo pizza that has red and green bell peppers on it. He made the most annoyed look on his face! He loves the olives but the bell peppers not so much.

 

Ice Cream is his new favorite treat. For a hot summer day its a perfect way to cool off after being at the park. Previously he had only tried Strawberry and Vanilla ice cream and Chocolate was a new flavor for him. I wasn't sure if he was sharing it or trying to give it back to me lol.

When I find a new product he enjoys its awesome! Smiles all around when we recently tried Fruit Simple juice. I liked it too so its a win win!  Although he did make a silly face when we tried Acai Cherry, I was laughing to hard to take a pic of that funny expression. Tart will be something we will save for later for now we will keep his treats sweet just like him!

What foods do your kids eat that  make them have a silly expression?

Movie Review: Rio coming to Blu-Ray & DVD August 2nd

When I first saw the previews for Rio when it was in the theaters I knew we had to see it. The bright colors and music were the hook for me. I could picture my son dancing to the music and when we had the chance to review the movie he danced so much he fell over! Back in May my sister Sam her husband and son JJ went to see Rio in theaters thanks to Chiquita banana you can read about their review here.

I have now watched the Rio DVD close to 20 times! Each time I sing along more and more. It is a sweet movie that has the classic parts of all good movies, excitement, adversity, friendship, love and a happy ending. I LOVE how colorful, vibrant and vivid the movie is, it makes me wanna go to Rio! The characters are great. Its something kids can relate to and adults can too. The line where the Toucan character Rafael says "These kids are giving me gray feathers" when referring to his bird babies made me laugh out loud.

From the opening scene in the rain forest my son began to dance. Everyone knows by now hes a dancing machine and this movie had lots of great music. There is even a dancing game with the characters that kids can play at the Rio the Movie website. The only part of the movie I did not care for was when the mean bird Nigel sang the song about why he is so mean. I know its meant to make everyone not like him since he is the antagonist of the story but some of the words he used I thought were not good for a kids movie.

I liked that Blu (the main character) over comes his fear of flying to save someone he loves. We all have fears in life that make us feel like we cannot do what we are meant to do and when we overcome them a world of possibilities opens up. I thought it was a great lesson for kids to learn.

Watching Rio on DVD

The other day my son was watching Rio and fell asleep. After I put him in his crib I left the movie on so I could finish watching it while I blogged. I knew then it must be a great movie since most of the movies he watches I will turn off if he falls asleep or goes in his room to play. He can even say "Bird" when he watches it. So cute!

He loves Rio so much he can't even take his eyes off the screen to drink his juice!

Rio Activity Sheet

Movie Summary:
"As summer heats up, spread your wings and celebrate with the funniest birds in town! The all-new comedy-adventure RIO comes to Blu-ray and DVD from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment. RIO brings together vivid characters and colorful backdrops amidst energizing Latin and contemporary tunes, creating the ultimate family-friendly music and dance experience for audiences of all ages. In addition to more than one hour of special bonus features and materials, consumers will have access to all-new exclusive levels of the smash video game hit Angry Birds Rio® that showcase your favorite characters from the film!

Captured as a young bird from the wild, Blu (Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network) is a domesticated Spix Macaw living thousands of miles away from his homeland, Brazil. When his human owner Linda (Leslie Mann, 17 Again) discovers that he is the last male of his kind, they head south to Rio de Janeiro to meet the only other female. But it's far from love at first sight between the socially-awkward, flight-challenged Blu and the fiercely independent, high-flying female, Jewel (Anne Hathaway, The Princess Diaries). Shortly after Blu's arrival, the two rare birds are captured by greedy animal smugglers and find themselves lost in the Brazilian rainforest. Unexpectedly thrown together, they embark on a hilarious and clumsy adventure where they learn about friendship, love, courage and spreading one's wings to fly."

The Bonus DVD was full of fun activities for the whole family. We played a fact game that shared info about Rio and of course there was music and dancing. You can get the DVD and bonus material when you buy the 2 disc DVD set. There is also a Party 3 disc set available on August 2, 2011.

 

*I was not paid or compensated for this post. The opinions in this post are 100% mine and may vary from other opinions. I was provided for free a copy of the Rio DVD  for my review.