Spot it! is a set of round durable cards with eight illustrations on them. The pictures are primarily everyday objects like a baby bottle, cheese, ladybug, and dinosaur. Each card has exactly one illustration in common with every other card. Honestly, that boggles my mind, but if you want to do the math behind that, you’ll be practicing combinatorics. We will leave that for another day and just talk some more about the game, which has been a hit in our house.

Spot it! from Blue Orange games comes in a small, round storage tin and includes 55 cards and instructions for a few variations of the game. The basic premise is to find the one image that is the same between two cards. It sounds easy, but I assure you that there are times you’ll be insisting that there is no match. You can try out a demo of Spot it! on their site. Let me know how you do!

I mentioned earlier that I like games that are fun for playing with people of a range of ages and Spot it! is just right for that. I was able to play with six-year-old Bug and had a lot of fun. Later we added four year-old LadyBug. She had a slightly more difficult time finding images and in some cases, knowing what they were called. She did well, but not well enough to make it a challenge to play against her. I created a variation of one of the game variations and she and Bug raced against the clock. I could see doing an ultra-difficult memory game with the cards, too. There are a lot of options.

Spot it! retails for $13.99, although it is available for less. I also noticed that they have other versions of the game, including an NHL deck (hey, Big Guy) and a Junior version that only has six images per card.

Blue Orange games produces an array of games from quality materials. They have a strong commitment to creating eco friendly products and lessening their environmental impact.

Disclosure: We received a copy of Spot it! for review purposes. There was no promise of a positive review and the opinions in this post are my own.

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After the standard welcome from Mickey, Minnie and the gang, the show kicks off with The Princess and the Frog. The costumes were gorgeous and the music upbeat, but this is my least favorite of the Disney princess movies. Bug is also terrified of the Shadow Man and has been ever since he first laid eyes on him in the movie. We spent the first act trying to calm him down. LadyBug, on the other hand, was entranced. She loves the skating and costumes.

The next act was Cinderella. My kids enjoyed the goofiness of the step sisters and were impressed by Cinderella’s transformation from rags to ball gown. I personally enjoyed the ball scene, but I can be sappy like that. I think the entire audience enjoyed singing along to "Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo."

The glimmering star of the show was the re-telling of Tangled, which is probably my favorite princess movie of all time. I’m not alone on this opinion, either, as the buzz that rippled through the arena was loudest of all for this act. We enjoyed seeing all of the characters, especially Maximus, who managed to retain all of his spunk and charm in his transition to the ice. But the highlight of this – and the show as a whole – was the aerial silk routines performed by Rapunzel and Flynn Rider. They spun and soared through the air on golden silk cloth and it was beautiful. My kids were captivated and even my hard-to-impress, not-remotely-romantic husband thought it was pretty cool.

Toward the end of the Tangled act, they do the lantern scene from the end of the movie. I’ve seen this particular part twice as it also happened in Treasure Trove, but it brought me nearly to tears both times. They bring a little girl out to the edge of the ice and she hands Rapunzel a lighted lantern. Rapunzel and Flynn Rider launch the lantern to the sky and the whole arena sparkles with glowing lanterns. I love the magic of it, but moves me most is the special moment it creates for the lucky little girl who gets a hug from Rapunzel and sets off the lantern storm.

Dare to Dream is my favorite Disney on Ice in a long time, although it’s partly due to the fact that my son was able to calm down enough for me to relax as well. And although it’s heavy on the princess-vibe, there is plenty in it for boys as well!

Disclosure: We received complimentary tickets to the show for review purposes. There was no promise of a positive review and the opinions contained in this post are my own.

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LadyBug loved the bread (which I made from scratch) and the kielbasa. She wanted nothing to do with the cheese!

Bug tried the cheese and decided that he wanted “just a little” on his food. In other words, he’d just touch the food to the cheese and enjoy it like that. I insisted that he wasn’t actually getting any cheese, but it made him happy. Here’s an early shot with lots of cheese:

Don’t even ask about our dinner attire. Or lack thereof.

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This holiday season, Dancing Deer offered me some new treats to sample. Naturally, I said YES.

Sweet Lemon Squares – These were by far my favorite goodie of the bunch, although I was skeptical at first. The Sweet Lemon Squares were just the right amount of chewy with a slightly crispy sugary coating on top that melted in my mouth. While the lemon flavor is pronounced, it’s not like the tartness of a lemon curd or pudding. It’s more like a dense lemon blondie. Yum! I wished I had a big tin of just these, but luckily for my waistline, I only had a couple.

Salted Caramel Squares – I expected these to be the best of all, but I was slightly disappointed. They were certainly delicious, but the caramel and salt flavors melded too closely together. Rather than a gooey caramel brownie with a surprising salt, it tasted more like a salty caramel-y brownie. Like, I said, they were good, but I wasn’t "wow’ed." These were Big Guy’s favorite, though, so they might be yours, too.

Cranberry Orange Cookies – I’m not a huge cranberry fan, so I passed these on to my parents for their opinion. This is a whole grain cranberry and orange cookies with white chocolate chips. My mom had told me that cranberry white chocolate cookies were one of her favorites, so much so that she had just baked a batch of her own for Christmas. The Dancing Deer cookies had steep competition, but my mom liked them a lot. She said that the orange and cranberry went together perfectly and created a wonderful Christmas-y flavor. In fact, she said that the next time she bakes her cookies, she’s going to add some orange zest. Her only complaint was that she thought they could use a bit more of the white chocolate.

Since we deal with food allergies in our house I should mention that, like most gourmet bakeries, the items are not really safe for those with severe nut allergies. They’re all processed in the same space (although not necessarily on the same equipment)Fortunately, we had enough kid-friendly desserts for the kids, and Big Guy and I (and my parents) got the Dancing Deer treats all to ourselves. These are a seriously lovely gift for someone and I’m not just saying that because they sent us free samples. I’m kind of hoping someone who loves me will send me more of the Lemon Squares (along with the Molasses Clove Cookies and some Chocolate Chunk Brownies) for… I don’t know, Valentine’s Day? My birthday? Mother’s Day? Or just for no reason at all.. P.S. I just discovered that they also have shortbread cookies. How did I miss that? And doesn’t Maple Pecan Nugget Shortbread sound divine?

Dancing Deer is a pretty cool company, anyway. Their products are all-natural with no preservatives and they strive for environmentally friendly packaging where possible. The company is employee-owned, in that employees are all stakeholders, which I always find results in a superior product. And they have a strong philanthropic component to their business. Lastly, they’re local to the Boston area, which automatically makes them wicked awesome.

Disclosure: Dancing Deer Baking Co. sent us the samples mentioned above for review purposes. There was no promise of a positive review (although anyone who has ever mentioned Dancing Deer to me could have guaranteed a positive review) and the opinions above are my own (with help from Big Guy and my mom). Pictures are courtesy of Dancing Deer.

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CES 2011 in Vegas… Danny Gokey Concert

A LOT of Snow

Trip to Disney as the Traveling Mom Food Allergies Blogger

A new room for my girly little girl

A 40th Birthday! (Yikes)

A trip to NOLA for the Mom 2.0 Conference (Thanks, Microsoft!)

Lots of baking…

Forward with Ford

Visit to GE with the lovely Charlene

Family travel

More family travel

And more…

BlogHer San Diego (with some of my favorite Boston Parent Bloggers)

Bug’s First Day of Kindergarten

A Hurricane (yeah, this is the only picture I got!)

Big Guy Turns 40 (Bug turns 6)

Freak October Snowstorm (haven’t really had any snow since…)

A visit with Walter Wick

Gaming with PlayStation Family

Happy, albeit sick, holiday season…

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We have a few big philosophies, but these in particular stand out:

1. Giving girls the space to be what they want without pressure to do “girl” things. Ah, nature vs. nurture. Do girls like pink and purple because of genetics, or because everyone behaves like it’s a foregone conclusion? Do they play with dolls and favor social play because they have learned to do so from the people in their lives? I think it’s a little of both, but it was important to me to create a space where my daughter could choose her own path. We shied away from the pale pink and purple clothes that many purchase exclusively. We went instead with neutral pastels and bold colors like turquoise, plum, and red. We made sure she had equal access to blocks and cars as to dolls and and play kitchens. It’s challenging, quite honestly, because many family and friends around us still believe that girls prefer dolls over trucks. They give her everything “girly,” while Bug gets all of the engineering toys. I believe that sends a message to both of my children about what they should like and what their roles should be.

2. Guns. I am not a violent person and I don’t believe that violence is generally the best solution to any problem. Big Guy and I have struggled a bit more with this particular area. Not that my husband believes in guns or violence either, but we’re gamers and sci-fi fans, and weaponry plays a role in our hobbies. We both fondly remember Star Wars from our own childhoods and wanted to share them movies with our own kids. But it’s a slippery slope. Is a light saber a gun? Yeah, kind of. And I’m sure my husband thought I was a lunatic when I was furious with him for purchasing a Toy Story 3 Lego set with green army men. Once Bug started school, it became virtually impossible to avoid the influence of guns and a battle culture, even if we hadn’t been great about dealing with it in the first place. This past Halloween, Bug decided to go as a Clone Trooper (they were good guys before they became Storm Troopers). And when I balked about getting him a toy blaster, he counseled me, “It’s just a piece of plastic that makes noise. It’s not REAL.” This is where I had to make a choice. Do I blindly hold onto this rule, or do I make an occasional exception, but use it as a chance to talk more with my kids about the subject. I went with the latter, although it’s an uneasy decision for me. Still, Bug reminds me frequently that his battle play is pretend, while I continue to request less violent games. Lady Bug is younger and it’s hard to tell what she understands and what she doesn’t. This makes the whole situation far more complicated.

There are plenty of other decisions we have made as parents that are the same as some families and different than others. It’s not about right or wrong; it’s about making the choices that we feel comfortable with and that seem best for our family.

That brings us to today. LadyBug is making out her Christmas wish list and it has two items on it. The first is a My Little Pony play set with a slide. For the record, Hasbro doesn’t currently make any. The second? A pink and purple gun. And it is those minutes of parenthood in which you know, without any doubt whatsoever, that you have failed your children.

The good news? Guns are not typically girly, so there aren’t many toy gun options in pink and purple. Sadly, there are more pink toy guns in production than My Little Pony slides. LadyBug is going to have to come up with a new list and I have a whole new parenting challenge ahead. How do I explain that Santa doesn’t really make either of those toys?

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That said, here are my Clone Trooper and Snow Princess. Lady Bug was thrilled with her glow wand, but has requested “a gun” for her birthday. Lovely, right? And I’m not sure who designed that Clone Trooper costume, but next time could you leave room for the kids’ noses? I mean, maybe you could let a Real Child try on the costume before you start the manufacturing process.

We have a whole new meaning behind “checking the Halloween candy.” Remember how you had to hand it all over to be inspected for razor blades and such? We don’t really do that here, although I suppose I should check it a bit more closely. We’ve got a pretty friendly neighborhood, so I’m more trusting than I might be somewhere else. Anyway, we have to separate out all of Bug’s candy and it breaks my heart every year. It’s not the candy that’s really the issue – we always have plenty available for him to swap and he’s got more than he needs anyway – it’s just sad to me to see how many things he can’t eat. I easily pulled out half of his candy (maybe more) for nuts and possible nuts. We snag Lady Bugs nut candy, too, although she can keep the stuff that is just a possible contamination. They’re too young to take the chance that he won’t accidentally grab something from her bucket.

By the end of Halloween, we were all exhausted. Two days without power (and heat), the Halloween party, the birthday party, an impromptu slumber party at my in-law’s house (where it was warm!) was draining. We all snuggled on the couch for “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.”

Big Guy didn’t even make it that long…

I don’t really love the costumes, but I enjoy all the decor, music, and ambiance around Halloween. And it has special meaning, because we brought Bug home for the first time on Halloween night. It was our first Halloween in the house, but we had all of the outdoor lights off. The kids saw us in the house and started shouting, “Give us candy!” We shouted back, “We just came home with a newborn!” Luckily, we had a stash of candy on hand, but it’s still a memory that makes me smile. Here he is in his first costume just home from the hospital:

And LadyBug’s first:

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Radio Shack has the limited edition HEXBUG Halloween Zombie Nanos, and you can bet that they’re going to be selling out. These adorable HEXBUGs come in a black or orange coffin and have a glow-in-the dark exoskeleton. They retail for $5.99 and are only available from Radio Shack. Don’t wait to pick up a couple of these. They’re really nice gifts for your kids, and a nice way to swap out some candy for something without sugar!

We also had a chance to take a look at the new HEXBUG Larva up close. Admittedly, these guys creep me out, and have since I first saw them. But once we had the time to play with them, I also decided they’re pretty cool. They have a sensor that causes them to change direction when they approach an obstacle. It makes them decidedly creepier, since now they seem to have some intelligence, but they have grown me. I hope HEXBUG makes one in the future with an LED or a glow-in-the-dark shell, because they would be perfect for a disturbing haunted house display.

Here’s what Larva looks when it’s just roaming around:

So, there you go. Our HEXBUG Halloween party was a hit. The kids were all thrilled to go home with HEXBUGs of their own. My kids, of course, believe that you can never have too many HEXBUGs and I am inclined to agree. Shh… don’t tell, but we’ll be surprising another bunch of kids with HEXBUG fun at Bug’s friend birthday party at the end of the month. We love to share the HEXBUG goodness!

Disclosure: We received a HEXBUG Halloween party kit from BSM Media and InnovationFirst. There was no promise of a positive review and the opinions contained in this post are my own.

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Since I had given up my original request for a surprise party, they decided to keep the location a surprise. It was fun speculating where we might end up, but it did cause me some anxiety when deciding what to wear. In the end, I stumbled across a dress that I simply fell in love with. I decided that it was simple enough to be OK in a casual environment, but formal enough that I felt special wearing it. And I found a pretty necklace that matched perfectly. Win-win!

The party was held at Café Madrid in Chelmsford, MA. They serve Spanish and American food with a nice selection of tapas. They’ve got a great party room in the back with a large screen, dance floor and bar. I loved the location. The room was a nice size and very private. I wasn’t thrilled at first that they had the hockey game on during the party, but Big Guy is a HUGE hockey fan and it didn’t end up detracting from the fun for me. Plus, the Bruins won in double overtime, so everyone was in good spirits at the end of the night! The food was delicious, but a little heavy. I’ll definitely return to try their food for dinner sometime.

I’m going to be honest. I was a little concerned that no one would show up. That’s a post for another time, but it was in the back of my mind. Needless to say, there were people at the party and I love each and every one of them. My mom, who used to teach third grade, devised a crazy activity that involved acting out different memorable moments from my life. I had to guess what activity each group acted out. I love that my friends and family were willing to act like complete lunatics in order to help me celebrate. I can’t tell you the last time I laughed so hard. The award goes to my dear friend, Melanie (The Coupon Goddess), who re-enacted the birth of both of my children on the floor of the restaurant without thinking twice. Her team won for the best re-enactment, which was funny, since they collectively knew me for the shortest amount of time.

My mom outdid herself in terms of the finer details of the event. There was a slideshow with pictures from infancy on up and it was fun to look back on so many good times. It also proved to those who have been hearing me say it for the past couple of years, that Lady Bug looks almost EXACTLY like me as a baby. Eerie. But a good thing, because when she was born I’m pretty sure I said that if I hadn’t seen her being born, I wouldn’t believe she was mine. My mom also remembered that I wanted custom M&Ms for our wedding, but had to nix them for budget constraints. She came through with my own special birthday M&M mix.They said, “Celebrate Christy!” and “40 great years!” The last custom M&M had my face printed on it, which is both creepy and cool. Be forewarned that you look at lot chubbier when your face is plastered on an M&M.

My husband was a bit more of a silent partner in this whole extravaganza, but he did remember that the most important part of a birthday party (other than the fabulous guests) is the cake. Our friends at Cakes for Occasions did a great job with a Mickey Mouse cake in three flavors: opera, red velvet, and a white cake. Much thanks to my in-laws for picking it up and delivering it safely to the event! Luckily (or not, if you ask my waistline), we brought a lot of cake home. The only flaw is that the black frosting stains everything, so we all had grim-looking smiles by the end of the night. Despite my paranoia, though, none of it ended up on my dress!

My father-in-law did a great job of taking pictures of all of the festivities and I got some pictures in, too. Here are some of my favorites:

40th Birthday VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

It was a fantastic night and I had a blast. Can’t you tell?

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The kids were excited to celebrate. Well, Bug was. Lady Bug was in a crabby mood.

The night before my actual birthday, Big Guy brought me my favorite Indian food, a new Jack Johnson CD, and a fun singing card that sings “Happy Together” (one of my favorite songs). Bonus points for him!

I flew out first thing on my birthday (left the house at 4:15am) to head to New Orleans for the Mom 2.0 Conference. I was a day early, but that gave me plenty of time to enjoy the city. Melanie treated me to a delicious lunch. Here I am, tired, but happy.

We went to Mother’s Restaurant with Miss Britt, HerBadMother, and Zchamu. There was a bit of a wait, which gave me plenty of time to waiver between jambalaya and gumbo. Jambalaya? Gumbo? Jambalaya? Gumbo? In the end, the summery climate pushed me away from the stew-like gumbo to the delicious jambalaya. I got it with red beans and rice (and, yes, that’s sausage IN the red beans and rice) and french fries. Sadly, the meal doesn’t look quite as yummy in photographic form, but you can just trust me that it was.

When Big Guy lamented that he wasn’t quite sure what to get me as a present, I suggested that it might be nice to have something delivered to the hotel ON my birthday as a treat. Here’s what the hotel sent:

I had no idea what they were, but they didn’t really look all that appealing to me. They’re unnatural colors, and kind of hard, and at least one of them has a fruity filling. I called Big Guy to find out what he had sent and he had no idea what those were either. They were supposed to send chocolate truffles. Of course, because my husband has at least some idea of what I like! So, I called the hotel and found out that these strange little things were macaroons (they don’t look like any macaroon I’ve ever had, but whatever). I thanked them, and then kindly asked where the #@*$ were my truffles. The Ritz-Carlton in New Orleans (which will have a separate post entirely) is a class act. They immediately sent me this bowl of chocolaty-goodness:

Yummm. Anyway, I went back out later for dinner with a cadre of smart, talented, and fabulous bloggers who are too numerous to name at this point. We enjoyed our dinner on a balcony above Bourbon Street and I had my first hurricane of the trip.

After that, I wandered back to the hotel, did a little work, and then settled in for a long night sleep. It has been a fantastic birthday so far, and I’ve got a little more celebrating to do tonight. Off to start getting ready…

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