Gathering the Gifts

I can not believe how swamped I have been while on my lil working stay-cation.  Caring for 6 dogs does take time.  Also making sure that my own home is running alright while I am away.  In many ways being alone for a month is a breath of fresh air.  In others I miss my own home, pets and of course family.  Dear Hubby has been visiting with me on the weekends.  That does help.

Now what do I fill my time with?

Well I have some things that I am receiving to put up for birthday and Christmas presents this year.  Let me show you what I have already.

First we have a new granddaughter by marriage in our family.  She is a doll.  So petite and gentle in her movements.  Also she loves pink just like me.  I have a Cotton Candy Cutesies named Hot Cinnamon for her.  This is perfect!  A tiny doll that is all pink and looks like a cone of cotton candy with the wild hair on top.  It is so true of our Kira that she is sugar and spice with everything nice but can still have a lil devilish streak in her.  It is wonderful to add family members.  Kira and her daddy, Nathan, are beautifully matched to our daughter Savannah and her two children, TK and Landon.  My circle of grand babes is growing so I need lots of good gifts.

Next we have a fun looking doll that Princess Emma is already begging for.  It is Zubie the Zip-Itz line of new dolls.  She is very colorful but the zippers are the best part.   With the rainbow colored zippers making hiding pockets to put a lil girls precious finds in.  Zubie is really into studying geology and Princess Emma is a rock collector.  So it would not be surprising to find a few special rocks or crystals hidden away.  I had to laugh when I saw a zipper across Zubies mouth.  How many times have I been told to Zip-Izt as a child.

Both of these dolls were sent to me for review.  I see they are both well made.  I love that they are also very colorful and interactive with a child.  Thanks so to Playdin for sharing with me.




Then I am loving The Pout-Pout Fish with the Kohl's Cares project.  Have you heard about it?  This is with the Summer 2013 Kohl's Cares merchandise program featuring The Pout Pout Fish books and plush toys for just $5 each. This delightful program is a hit with both kids and their parents, as Kohl’s donates 100 percent of the net profit to children’s health and education initiatives nationwide.  I have the book of the Pout-Pout Fish along with the toy of The Pout-Pout Fish and the lil Crab that follows him around.  The story line is to help kids know they can choose to be happy.  The only issue I have is that the fish goes from being dreary to kissing everyone.  This is an issue as children in school get in a lot of trouble for kissing another child.  I would not wish to teach them this is okay to do.  But it is wonderful to teach them that they can be happy, have fun and be loved by their family and friends.  The Kohl's Cares program is a great project.  Since 2000 the have raised more than $208 million to help support kid;s health and education in communities nationwide.  I have to say if your looking for a gift for a child $5.00 is very little to spend so quite affordable and you are supporting a good cause.  Thanks to Kohls for sharing this great project with me.  I do appreciate the items for review as well as the knowledge on how to help.


Oh and my Grand babes enjoy watching shows.  I have My Turtle who is waiting patiently for his little sister to arrive.  Yes, another new grandbabe to love on.  I feel so very blessed by our children.  Well My Turtle would love the great colors and easy dialogue that is fashioned to reach out to children that is part of the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse with the Quest of the Chrystal Mickey.  Yes, another treasure trove of travel and adventure.  There is over 2 hours of viewing time on this DVD.  Now I would not do it all at once but I know My Turtle like to watch a little and the run a lot.  So he does a back and fourth routine to movies.  Thanks so to Walt Disney for sharing with me.  As always you can count on quality entertainment from Disney films.  


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But my Landon is a little older and loves the hero's in life.  The Hub has the Transformers Rescue Bots on but they also have DVD's too.  I have the Energize show where they learned teamwork as well as how to partner with someone to complete a task.  That is a lesson I would like Landon to learn.  He is a bright but independent boy.  Sometimes it is better to have someone working with you.  I have to say that I also enjoy hearing LeVar Burton as one of the voices on Transformers: Rescue Bots - Energize.  Thanks so to Shout! Factory for once again sharing with me.  Shout! Factory has paired up with me for over two years now.  I greatly appreciate the support.  Also it seems you just know what is right for my readers.

Well as you can see I am pretty well complete with gifts for my Grand babes.  But I still have my oldest Granddaughter TK to attend to.  She just won an award for reading at school.  I am so very proud of her.  Gosh it is hard to believe she is now 9 years old.  Growing up so very fast with a quick brain that picks up on everything.  Of course I encourage her reading skills since I am an avid reader myself.  I have 4 amazing books to share.

Now one of them it going for a Father's Day gift from Princess Emma and JD to their Poppa.  It is so very much like him.  Let me tell you about it and see if your dad or husband falls into this catagory.  My Dad Thinks He's Funny by Katrina Germein is a perfect fit for Poppa.  We have heard him for 26 years say the phrases in this book. The longest running one in our family now is...I'm Hungry...Hello Hungry I am (insert name here).  When his son says "I’m hungry," Dad says, "Hello, Hungry. Pleased to meet you." Before slicing a cake for dessert, Dad announces, "There’s my piece. What’s everybody else having?" Tell Dad your foot hurts? "No problem. You've got another." How is he feeling? "With my hands." So when nothing’s up but the sky, or when jumping in the shower sounds dangerous, it may be a good time to share this book with someone who doesn't need sugar because, well, they’re sweet enough already. You know those funny lines that dads throw out there.  Well we read My Dad Thinks He's Funny and noted that almost every single line in the book has been used by Poppa.  

The other three books are for TK to be able to read for stories to share with her brother.  TK is on a much higher reading  level but she loves to read bedtime stories to Landon.  Now that is a very sweet girl.  The first of these three is The Dear Watch by Pat Lowery Collins.  I love the illustrations by David Slonim.  They are beautiful oil paintings that depict life when your looking for the good parts of it.  A father and a son go to hunt deer.  Now I will jump the 'gun' here because hunting for them is to find and watch them.  Not to hurt them in anyway.  This is the way I would choose to 'hunt' too.  They see good and bad things around them.  But as father is teaching his son, some things we can fix.  Some we have to accept.  And others we choose to stop.  Beautiful all the way around.

Then we have FArTHER by Grahame Baker-Smith.  Not only is the story touching but the illustrations are amazing.  More larger than life with delicate touches.  FArTHER tells of a man's dream to fly.  He tries over and over to make wings that work.  Alas his task never comes to fruition but his son has watched him through the years.  With some time and skill the son (now an adult) does make the wings his farther dreamed of.  It is then that the son looks at his own child and wonder what dreams he may have one day.  A beautiful story of how we teach our children by what we do.  In doing so make sure that you teach them to dream and to reach out for that dream.

And the last book I have is The Matchbox Diary by Paul Fleischman.  I have to say that the illustrations on each book is amazing.  No less so here with Bagram Ibatoulline.  Such precision in his art that shows great detail and depicts age so well.  Another wonderful story passed from Grandfather to his granddaughter.  You see the theme here with Fathers Day around the corner.  Grandfather teaches his history of how he arrived in the states as an immigrant.  The travel it took as well as the backbone to achieve.  Each piece of history of his memories is stashed in little matchboxes.  You open one to find a seed, a tooth or maybe a ticket inside.  That item stands for the memory of the time it was obtained.  I love that this is teaching ancestry to a child.  It is important to know where you have come from then to look and see where you are going.  Thanks to Candlewick Press for sharing with me for review.  What wonderful books to teach and inspire our children with.






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