Subscribe to Our Feed!This is a compensated review by BlogHer and Electrolux.
All the snow that has fallen this winter has made me crave something a bit more colorful. I know the white snow is beautiful but I need some bright, bold colors. So I decided to bake a cake. Not just any cake… a rainbow cake.
One of my friend’s teased me the first time I made my rainbow cake. She asked, “Why did you make one?” No reason. In fact, I find that no reason at all is the best reason to make a rainbow cake. It brings its own reasons packaged in its colorful layers. It brings smiles. It brings laughter. It brings togetherness while baking it. And it brings some color. Quite honestly, our family could use a little laughter and color during this bleak winter. The boys were excited to help yet again.
First we mixed up the two boxes of cake batter as per their instructions, licking the beaters as an additional “must do.”
Then we separated the batter into six different bowls. We colored each with icing color (not food coloring, read why here) and poured them into six different round cake pans. I have to buy foil cake pans because my family hasn’t caught on that I am on this baking spree and no one has bought me six different round cake pans. You’d think they’d catch on!
Then it bakes. While it bakes, we sing and dance in the kitchen our fancy new floor. After it bakes, it has to cool. In fact, I let it cool overnight. When I don’t, it falls apart and I cry. There should be no crying in baking, so I waited this time around. Then I slathered icing between the layers, pre-made, thankyouverymuch, and stuck them together.
Then I frosted the top, convinced my children to eat their vegetables and we had a Color Makes Me Happy Party.
I tell you all of this because BlogHer wants me to tell you about how Kelly Ripa has paired up with Electrolux to support the fight against ovarian cancer. Entitled “Cakery for a Cause,” they’re holding a virtual cake-bake off to help support the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund (OCRF). All you do is visit the site, decorate a cake and e-mail it to a friend. For every cake sent, Electrolux will donate $1 to OCRF. And, it gets better: to help spread the word, everyone who sends a virtual cake will be automatically entered for a chance to win every baker’s dream: a stylish new Induction Range from Electrolux. (It’s swanky.) (Speaking of swanky, in case you want to use your tax refund to get swanky, Electrolux is also donating $100 to OCRF for every induction range sold this month. So, you know, you can buy me one, okay?)
In short, even if you aren’t scouring the market for a fancy new way to bake your cakes, you can simply visit Kelly Confidential, whip up a virtual cake (or twelve) and send them to your friends and family. It’s that simple to help the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund. Then, if each of the people you send a cake to takes the time to send it to one or two people, think of how your few minutes will continue to benefit others. It’s that easy. And I like things to be easy… like how easy it was to eat this cake. Mmm.
Please visit BlogHer.com special offers page for more information on the Cakery for a Cause.
I came across the book Even Firefighters Go to the Potty: A Potty Training Lift-the-Flap Story
The book itself is not all about firefighters. The front cover and first two-page-spread feature a firefighter. The rest of the book features other people that young children tend to think are cool: police officers, baseball players, construction workers, doctors, astronauts, waiters, pilots, train engineers and zoo keepers. Each page features a scene in which a character has gone missing because he needs to use the potty. The firefighter example finds the other firefighters scrambling to the truck to respond to an alarm but the firefighter who drives the truck is missing. Where could he have gone? Lift the flap… he’s using the potty because even firefighters go to the potty. Rinse repeat with all of the other characters.
LittleBrother thinks this book is hilarious. He loves lifting the flap, announcing where the character in question is and giggling at the absurdity of it all. That, of course, might be the problem. I really think he might believe the book is absurd, a fictional tale about adults going to the bathroom. Of course, that’s not the fault of the book. LittleBrother is just silly.
You might have noticed my heavy use of the masculine pronouns. The only female who uses the potty (shown washing her hands, which is another great point to teach with) is the doctor. Everyone else is male. I mean, I’m all for women being doctors but, really, they could have thrown in one more mail, don’t you think? That negative aside, the children and adults in the book have a variety of different skin tones which is something we always like to see in our books. Win some, lose some, I suppose.
One final and big bonus of this book for both parents and children: the strong, durable pages. They are glossy and have a coating that I would liken to plastic but, trust me, it’s not plastic. If you go to test the pages to find out if they can rip, trust me, they can. The good thing that is unless you’re actively trying to rip the page to write about it in a review, you’re unlikely to rip it. Even LittleBrother, zealously lifting the flap so that he can laugh at the silliness of it all, hasn’t yet ripped off a flap or torn it at all. That’s a big selling point for me when it comes to books like these!
So, yes, we’ve been reading a lot of Even Firefighters Go to the Potty
_
[Disclosure: Links are through Amazon Associates.]
Out and About at the Fire Station
The story is about a class that takes a field trip to a fire station. At the very beginning of the book, we’re presented with a list of questions that one of the students in the class has about firefighters. I thought it was a great list and an important page not to just skip over if you have a child that is old enough for reading comprehension and retention. The list has these questions.
1. How do firefighters find fires?
2. What other jobs do firefighters have besides fighting fires?
3. Do firefighters sleep in their gear?
4. What do they do while they’re waiting for fires?
Those are some good questions. In fact, I just recently learned that FireDad does not, in fact, sleep in his blue workpants. You would think I would have known that as we’ve been married for five years but, well, I didn’t. I learn new things every day! I digress. The book starts out with the kids visiting the fire department and meeting Firefighter Tim and Firefighter Raj.
While this book has a good mix of skin colors both on the fire department and in the class, I did notice that the only female firefighter was on the next to last page, walking a dog. While not quite as antiquated as the old firefighter books that we have, I still find it somewhat disheartening.
The rest of the book is decent despite the lack of female firefighters on the crew. (If you’re looking for a good female centered firefighter book, read my review of My Mom is a Firefigher.) The questions at the beginning of the book are answered as are many others. We learn about trucks, what else the firefighters have (rescue boats, an ambulance) in their garage, how far a ladder on a fire engine can reach and much more. We even learn a bit about arson, as in what it is and why it’s bad, not how to do it!
No good firefighter book is complete without a lesson in safety. After we learn that firefighters are busy all day (checking trucks, visiting schools and so on), we’re given a brief lesson in fire safety. I found the particular page to be too wordy and not really geared toward the baby-preschool age group that it is supposedly written for. Hopefully parents reading this long page to their kids can keep it interesting. Ideas include actually having your kid show you how to stop, drop and roll or how to feel if their door is hot.
Despite the lack of females and the wordy last page, the book does hold its own. The illustrations are very interesting, giving both BigBrother and LittleBrother many things to look at on each page. They enjoyed pointing at things and either asking questions or telling me what they knew about life in a fire station.
As the book is only available in hardback on Amazon for $22.60
_
[Disclosure: Links are through Amazon Associates.]
This is a compensated review by BlogHer and V8.
As many of my readers know, my older son (BigBrother) has texture issues. These issues extend from things that he has to touch all the way to things he has to eat or drink. The latter problem has created some very difficult challenges in making sure he gets enough fruits and vegetables. I would like to state that in the last year he has started eating cooked carrots, cooked broccoli, one slice of apple per day and drinking juice. You would think that the juice thing wouldn’t be a big issue as it doesn’t seem to have texture. You’d be wrong. It does. Just ask BigBrother.
We went through a whole bunch of 100% juice options. It was time-consuming and frustrating. On our second flavor of V8 V-Fusion, however, we hit a winner. In fact, he drank more than a sip. He drank the whole glass. And asked for more. I’m serious. I almost fell down in my kitchen. Since that time, he’s decided that he likes the strawberry banana flavor, peach mango and one flavor of another brand of juice. (Only, ever, but still. It’s an improvement.)
I tell you this to set up this review! BlogHer contacted us recently to ask if we’d like to review some V8 V-Fusion. Knowing that we already like some of it, I said that we wouldn’t mind at all! We received the new Cranberry Blackberry flavor in the big bottle and slim cans of Strawberry Banana (!) and Pomegranate Blueberry each.
The juices arrived right before lunch time. I asked BigBrother if he wanted to try a new juice. I made a big deal about it. I said it was purple! And yummy! And way fun! And that I’d have a glass, too! With his texture issues, we have to make a big deal about things.
Apparently I made a big enough deal because he agreed to try a glass. Agreeing to try a glass and drinking it are two different stories so I held my breath as he took a sip.
“I like it!”
Win! Not only did he drink a glass with lunch that day, he’s been asking for it at lunch time almost every day. I’m okay with that as it is 100% juice with no added sugar. (On top of having texture issues, I prefer the kids to have healthy options. I’m sure he’d eat junk all day every day if I let him but that’s not what I’m going for here!) Since I know that he’s not getting the recommended daily servings of vegetables or fruit, I’m pleased that an 8-oz glass of V8 V-Fusion provides a full serving of both vegetables and fruit. I’d really, really like if he would eat cucumbers and carrots and apples and
strawberries and anything else that holds still like his younger brother but I’ll go about it in whatever way works right now.
I asked BigBrother what he thought about V8 V-Fusion and he gave me the following blurbs. We even get to hear a word from LittleBrother!
(As an aside, I don’t know why he sounds like a news anchor other than he is, in fact, my Mini-Me.)
I drank the Pomegranate Blueberry myself. It was delicious. I actually think BigBrother would have liked that flavor as well but I didn’t really give him a chance with that one. I didn’t feel bad about it either.
I’m pleased that we have yet another juice that my older son can benefit from drinking. It’s hard when the choices are limited and then it sells out in a store. And now I’d like to give our readers a chance at winning a $100 Visa gift card. Maybe you won’t buy V8 V-Fusion or other fruits and vegetables but even if you don’t, I have a feeling that $100 could help you get some stuff that you need or want this year!
To enter, leave me a comment below and tell me what’s your, or your kids, favorite variety of V8 V-Fusion. If you haven’t tried it yet, which one are you are most excited to try? The contest will begin at January 12, 2010 and will end February 9, 2010. Make sure that the e-mail address you leave is correct.
Rules:
* No duplicate comments.
* You may receive an additional entry by linking on twitter and leaving a link in the comments.
* You may receive an additional entry by blogging about this contest and leaving a link in the comments.
* This giveaway is open to US-Residents aged 18 and older
* Winners will be selected via random draw (random.org), and will notified by e-mail.
* You have 48 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.
* Please see the official rules here: Official rules.
Please visit the official page over at BlogHer to learn about your eight chances at winning a $100 Visa gift card. Furthermore, you can learn more about V8 V-Fusion and get a $1 off coupon!
