Lilypad Likes: A Butterfly Wing

Fliss over at Photo Adventures took this photo of the wing of a butterfly. I love the detail and the color. I think this would be an amazing photo to have blown up for a wall. Thank you for letting me post this Fliss!

Magic Puzzles

Lilypad Princess has a new favorite activity, puzzles. She has had one for a while that she didn't show much interest in until recently, but now it's all she wants to do. I had another one put away that I finally brought out, she had it figured out in about 5 minutes.

I think I'm going to keep an eye out for this one next, I know she'd love the animals.

Lilypad Likes: Great Gift Ideas & a Giveaway

This post will remain at the top until Sunday, scroll now for new posts until then.

Summer is finally here which means an even busier calendar for the Lilypad family. Between trips to the beach, visits to friends and family, upcoming birthdays, summer cookouts and milestone events happening this fall, I don't have a lot of time to shop for gifts, so I'm planning ahead to ensure I don't end up just buying anything I can get my hands on at the last minute.

Olive Kids personalized products make great gifts for kids of all ages. The name tags are the perfect gift for a child going off to school for the first time this fall or as a special bon voyage gift for a big vacation this summer. Lilypad Princess has two of the princess name tags and was very excited to put one on her carry-on backback for our Disney trip.

With summer cookouts coming up, hostest gifts are another thing I like to plan ahead for. Instead of another bottle of wine, how about bringing something for the kids in the family? Olive Kids Fourth of July personalized placemats are a special way to set a patriotic place at the table for all of the little ones. LP loves to choose her placemat for the table at night, and reads out the letters in her name each time she sits down. She also tells me stories about some of the placemats (the princess one is her favorite) while I finish getting dinner ready

Olive Kids is also introducing personalized bookmarks to their offerings. Especially great for older kids who are reading chapter books, this would be a great going back to school gift, a way to make that summer reading assignment a little more fun, or a special addition to a great book gift.

To celebrate the start of summer, Olive Kids is giving away a prize pack to one Lilypad reader. The winner of this great giveaway will receive:

A Fourth of July Placemat of your choice
A bookmark of your choice
A nametag of your choice

All together this is over a $30 value with shipping and would be a great gift for your own child or as a gift for a special event. To enter this giveaway, take a look around Olive Kids then come back and leave a comment on this post with your favorite Olive Kids design and favorite product. Please be sure to leave a way for me to contact you if you don't have a profile in case you are the winner. I will choose a winner at random on Sunday, June 22nd.

Lilypad Likes: My First Look and Find Books

Lilypad Princess loves books. She loves to read herself, read to you, and be read to. She has recently discovered the fun of I Spy, and the My First Look and Find books are a great way for her to play by herself. Because she's still rearfacing, it isn't easy to play the game with her in the car since we can't see the same things. But she loves to find all the objects in the books, then tell me stories about what is happening on each page. We have had the Princess one for a while, and just bought the Best Friends one earlier this week.

Lilypad Likes: K'NEX

I was recently given the opportunity to try out and review 3 new K'NEX building sets. At first I wasn't too sure if I'd be a good match for the review, Lilypad Princess is still too young to play with them and I've never been much of a brick builder. But I was curious about them and I know that Hunter and Cole would be great reviewers after me. So I decided to give it a shot.

I received three of the new sets, 2 from the Rescue Assortment and a Dueling Racers set.



Rescue Assortment: Looking for a creative outlet for your little helper? The K’NEX Rescue Assortment includes 4 rescue-themed building sets that let kids building police cars, fire engines, ambulances and medivac helicopters. Each set – Police, Fire, Ambulance and Rescue – includes instructions for a lead and alternate build. For ages 5+ yrs. Price: $4.99.




Dueling Racers: Speed-minded youngsters can build their very own motorized race cars! The set includes instructions to build four batter-powered race cars (two at a time), and comes complete with 132 pieces, 2 motors, as well as K’NEX rods, connectors and bricks. For ages 7+ yrs. Price: $19.99.

After they came I sat down with the Police Rescue set to start, thinking that since it was the smallest, it would be the easiest. The instructions were very easy to follow and in no time at all I had police car zipping across the living room floor. A few minutes later, all the bricks were rearranged into a police helicopter with spinning blades. I quickly moved on to building the Fire Rescue set into a firetruck and boat, then followed the included instructions for using both sets to build a mega model.

At that point I was hooked. I was ready to move on the Dueling Racers. This set is definitely more involved than the Rescue Sets (which explains the differences in recommended ages) but still had good instructions to follow. The hardest part I found was getting the cars apart again once they were together. The set comes with 2 instruction booklets and pieces to build two cars at the same time. So 2 kids can build together, then race their motorized cars. They can even change them around to a different style then race again. The motors made them quick cars, racing easily across our living room floor.

After the fun play was over, I took a look at them through my parent view. I really like the fact that clear instructions are given so that a child can build the vehicles without becoming frustrated, but there is plenty of opportunity to change it up and use their imagination as well. And the entire time they are building they are working on their fine motor skills. The company also makes me feel good about buying theor products. They are committed to environmental sustainability and their green initiatives have made them a leader in the plastics industry. They have received over 200 awards, most from from kid-testing panels for groups like the Canadian Toy Testing Council, Oppenheim Toy Portfolio, National Parenting Center, Parents Magazine, Sesame Street Parents, Dr. Toy and more.

I can't wait for Lilypad Princess to be old enough to use K'NEX. They have KID K'NEX for ages 3 and up, that let them build animals and cars. I will definitely be looking for these for her next birthday! In the meantime, I am going to pass the Dueling Racers and the Rescue sets on to Hunter and Cole. Once they have had a chance to try them out I will post their reviews for you as well.

Lilypad Likes: Olive Kids is 10!

Olive Kids is turning 10 and to celebrate they are hosting a contest with over $1000 worth of prizes. Head on over to their site to enter the contest, and take a look around at the cute bedding, bedroom accessories, and great placemats.

A few months ago I won a set of placemats and luggage tags through a blog giveaway (click here to see my previous post). The quality is great, they have all held up really well to constant use. Lilypad Princess likes to pick the placemat that she's going to use for dinner and they make her excited about sitting down at the table. We put one of the luggage tags on her carry on bag for our trip to OK, we had close to 20 people comment on how cute it was and ask where we got it. I will definitely be taking a look at what they have for bedding when we are ready to move her to a bed.

Lilypad Likes: Ladybug Magazine

A new issue of Ladybug Magazine just came the other day. Nana and PopPop got Lilypad Princess a subscription for Christmas this year. She is so proud to get her own magazine in the mail, and we love snuggling in the chair together to read it at night.

Ladybug is a magazine for 3-6 year olds. Each issue contains stories, poems, songs, and activities to enjoy together. You can find more information about the magazine here and read through a sample issue here.

Lilypad Likes: Dragonstone Castle

Lilypad Princess received her Christmas gift from her Aunt Christina today, Dragonstone Castle by Haba. It is the cutest soft "book" that can be opened up wide or formed into a box to make a castle. It also comes with a princess, knight, and dragon. The castle folds flat and all the pieces fit back into the plastic bag with a handle to take anywhere with you.

Lilypad Princess loves it, we spent a good portion of the afternoon flying the princess and knight around on the dragon's back, checking out all the features of the castle, and having everyone go in and out of the castle through the door.

Dragonstone Castle is actually a wonderful toy designed for babies age 6 months and up. The pieces are all soft and squeezable, the colors are all bright and fun, and each piece has things to discover and explore. The castle has a bird that can pop in and out, a caterpillar that slides along a rope, child-friendly mirrors, and crinkle paper. The knight squeaks and the caterpillar is a rattle. I think a baby would love this, and as LP's interest in it shows, would get lots of play out of it for years.

I have found it on a few different Websites, including Oliebollen.com. According that Oliebollen, this was a Parenting Magazine Toy of the Year.

Lilypad Likes: Pediped Flex

The wait is finally over! Pedipeds have released their Pediped Flex line for kids ages 2-5. I am dying to take a look at them in person to see if they are as comfortable as the original Pedipeds are.

One really nice feature for the moms with the new Flex shoes is the Flex Fit System. Each pair of Flex shoes comes with an additional insole to customize the fit. As your child's foot grows, you remove the additional insole, so you can extend the amount of time your child can wear the shoes. Knowing how fast kids feet outgrow shoes, I love this feature.

Here are some of my favorites for girls and boys. (click on image to view larger)

Lilypad Loves: Fingerprint Necklace

It came, it came! My Fingerprint Necklace from Tina Steinberg came today and I love it. It is about the same size as a nickel, and LP's fingerprint is perfectly detailed. The fingerprint is very clear, all the ridge detail is captured, and the rest of the silver disk is smooth and shiny. LP's name and the date we made the fingerprint mold is engraved on the back.

The mold process was very easy, we did a few trial runs with playdough first, and wanting it perfect, I redid the actual print once. Tina Steinberg sends everything that you need to make the mold and ship it back to her, then about 2 weeks later she sends you a beautiful piece of keepsake jewelry. Lilypad Princess was excited to fit her finger right back into the silver print this morning. Here are a few detail photos, one for sizing and one so you can see the thickness of the disk. click on photos to enlarge

Lilypad Likes: Knuffle Bunny Books

Since Lilypad Princess was going to be home sick, I ran to the library on my way for her medicine to pick up some new books. Two of the books I brought home were Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale and Knuffle Bunny: A Case of Mistaken Identity.

Both books star Trixie and her Knuffle Bunny and the trials that Trixie goes through when Knuffle Bunny is forgotten or switched. The first book features a young toddler Trixie, who hasn't learned to talk yet and struggles to tell her dad that Knuffle Bunny has been left behind at the laundromat. In the second book, Trixie has definitely learned to talk, and takes Knuffle Bunny to pre-K with her, where he is accidentally switched with another Knuffle Bunny.

Printed on olive-green backdrops, the illustrations are a combination of muted, sepia-toned photographs of a Brooklyn neighborhood upon which bright cartoon drawings of people have been superimposed. Lilypad Dad loved these books just as much as Lilypad Princess and I did. We are definitely going to have these to our permanent library.


Book image from Amazon.com

101 Things Every Kid Should Do Growing Up

A much better find than the video was the book 101 Things Every Kid Should Do Growing Up. I haven't made it all the way through yet, but as I go through I'm making notes on things that I want to remember to do with Lilypad Princess as she grows and which things we have already done.

The book also has helpful hints for most things, such as a recipe for making your own Playdoh (#6 Every kid should play with playdoh)or ways to have an indoor camp-out if you don't have a backyard (#4 Every kid should camp in the backyard).

Some of the things LP has already done:
#35 Every kid should create a holiday keepsake. (Santa's cookie plate)
#5 Every kid should play in the bathtub until his skin wrinkles. (almost every bath)
#8 Every kid should catch snowflakes on his tongue and eyelashes.
#38 Every kid should have a collection. (magnets)
#39 Every kid should attend a live performance. (Sesame Street Live)
#37 Every kid should play dress up.
#69 Every kid should make a pizza

Some of the ones that will definitely be added to my list of things to do:
#77 Every kid should go to a baseball game with Grandpa. (definitely a Yankee game)
#86 Every kid should have a personal library card.
#24 Every kid should learn to swim (in progress)
#27 Every kid should take music lessons.
#36 Every kid should participate in a "-thon".
#45 Every kid should write a memory letter each year.
#56 Evert kid should create a board game.

Just a little snack

I've been trying to eat as healthy as possible as well as going to the gym. But I haven't been able to curb my urge for a snack now and then. So my popcorn bowl has been getting quite a workout of its own lately.

The Nordic Ware Microwave Popcorn Popper produces up to 12 cups of fresh popcorn without any oil in less than 4 minutes. You just pour the kernels in the bowl, put the top on and stick it in the microwave. A couple sprays of a zero calorie butter spray, a little sprinkle of salt and you have a low calorie, no fat, whole grain, high fiber snack that is filling and satisfies that urge to snack.


photo from cooking.com

Lilypad Likes - Olive Kids

Growing up I could never find my name on personalized license plates, pencils, bracelets, or barrettes. Or if they did have my name, it was never spelled the right way. And while the name we gave Lilypad Princess is rapidly growing in popularity, it still isn't easy to find things personalized for her.

If a little prince or princess in your life has a difficult name to find, Olive Kids is here to help. Olive Kids not only carries an adorable line of bedding, rugs and room accessories, but they have their own line of products that you can have personalized with any name you want.

We just received a set of 5 personalized placemats, and 2 nametags for LP's backpack and suitcase. The placemats are adorable, we got the girl set shown above. They are large, colorful, and very easy to wipe clean. LP has been telling me all about the mermaids since we opened the package. We also got the personalized name tags with the mermaids.

I really love their personalized floor pillows. They are 20" x 26" x 2" and the covers are removable and washable.

They also have adorable kids bedding and matching drawer pulls.

Lilypad Likes Part 2

I don't know if I ever mentioned it, but I found out at Christmas that Lilypad Dad does read The Lily Pad. He surprised me with the kit for the Round Up My Love fingerprint necklace that I posted about under Lilypad Likes back in December.

Tonight Lilypad Princess, Lilypad Dad and I took out the kit, rolled out the clay, and made the fingerprint mold. Tomorrow we will pack it all back up and mail it off. I cannot wait to see the finished product.

A Word Window

Lilypad Princess loves books. She reads to herself, reads to us, and of course we read to her. She tends to get hooked on the same book for weeks on end, which can lead to a little book boredom for me. But last summer LP's great-Auntie Diane gave her an entire set of books, and we've been working our way through the 15 or 20 book set lately.

The books are all part of the Magic Castle Readers set by Scholastic Books. We have been reading Away Went the Farmer's Hat and The Bears Upstairs almost every night for the past month, but tonight we traded for What Do You Do With a Grumpy Kangaroo? and Smile, says Little Crocodile.

I think these might be out of print of now, the copyright is 1988, but I recommend picking some up if you ever see them at a used book store or tag sale. Each book has a lesson as well, kangaroo teaches about feelings, crocodile teaches about health, the bears teaches about playing pretend, and the farmer's hat is about adventure.

Perfect Fit Headband

A little package came this morning as we were getting ready to walk out the door. As usual, it was for Lilypad Princess. It was a Perfect Fit Headband from Busy B Designs. She didn't fuss at all as I put it on, and unlike most of her clips, actually stayed in her hair the entire time we were gone. It even stayed in with her winter hat being pulled on and off.

The headband is soft so it won't push on the head or cause a headache, and is shaped to taper off as it goes behing the ears. The elastic in the back makes it fit perfectly now, but also allow her to wear it for a long time. It is reversible, a pink pattern with blue and green on one side and a pink microseude on the other.

The only downside to it is how much older she looks while wearing it. She looks like she's ready to go off to school without me. (I'll try to get a better picture after she wakes up from her nap, this was the best I could do because she was too busy eating a cereal bar so she could get outside to pose for pictures).