Adventures in Preschool

Considering the last preschool I was in was my brother's in the late 80s, the only recent knowledge of preschool I had was Sesame Street's ear worm parody "Preschool Musical" (based on Disney's High School Musical, of course). There's a snippet from Sesame Street's YouTube channel below, you can watch the full video on the Sesame Street website.

So about six weeks ago when Hannah became a "Preschooler" while she checked out the room I did too. I was ecstatic to see there was indeed "Block Corner" (they don't have "Dress Up Corner", but they do have a dress up box near the toy kitchen).

Pure Via NEW Liquid Sweetener #Review #Giveaway

I'm always looking for ways to save money AND calories, if possible. New Pure Via Stevia Liquid Sweetener does both.

I can keep it easily on my desk, so I can have sweetener at my desk when I make my morning tea - versus purchasing it en route (and ensure none of my coworkers "borrow" it, a problem in some office kitchens). You just squeeze it in your beverage, I didn't even need a spoon. Another bonus - it also works in cold beverages!

It has a clean, sweet taste - and has ZERO calories.

Here are some more Sweet Facts from the Pure Via website:

• Pure Via stevia extract is 97% Pure Reb A made from the sweetest extract of the stevia leaf. 
• It is sweetened using all natural stevia. 
• No drip lid. Great in hot & cold beverages. 
• 1 squeeze is equivalent to 1 teaspoon of sugar. 
• Pure Via liquid sweeteners are suitable for people with diabetes. 
• It's certified Kosher Parve.

Back to Routine with Olay, COVERGIRL and Secret #PGmom #Review #Giveaway

Hannah and I might not be in school. But I work on a university campus and Hannah attends daycare there. In August, we saw tumbleweed (OK, not literally, but you get the idea). Now, there are students as far as the eye can see. You have to move fast to stay out of their way and keep with the general direction or you'll feel like a salmon swimming upstream. It doesn't help that Hannah walks slowly or demands to be carried to and from the car. What was once a 45 minute commute, is now at least an hour - it sometimes takes us 15 minutes just to get out of the parking lot and off campus!

Talk about a sweaty, stress-filled mess! Thank goodness I have Olay, COVERGIRL and Secret to take care of my skin and make sure I don't smell (even after carrying my 30 lbs toddler up four flights of stairs).

We try to go to bed earlier to deal with the chaos on campus, but sometimes our cat has different ideas (yes, the cat wakes me up more than my 2.5 year old does). Regardless, when you get up at 6 a.m. (aka before the sun) it's nice to have fresh smelling products to wake you up.

Super Beasts is Serious Fun at The Little Gym #Review #Giveaway

Hannah has a lot of words. Sometimes she forms comprehensible sentences, other times she does not. After we tried our first Super Beasts class at The Little Gym of Vaughan, I thought they must have found a toddler with a flair for the English language who detailed everything the perfect gymnastics class should include - because Super Beasts (a Parent/Child Class) was everything Hannah wanted and more.

The class is 45 minutes long, but time passes by quite quickly. First there is a welcome song, where the children get to use musical shakers and other instruments. Then there is some group play - the first time we went we played with bean bags, the second class brought out balls and the parachute to the absolute joy of my daughter.

Get creative with Stampin' Up! #Review #Giveaway

Do you ever surf Pinterest for inspiration, and instead, just get the overwhelming feeling you could never create the beautiful homemade works of art showcased? Me too.

So when I heard about Stampin' Up! I was excited. Maybe I just needed a little help to be creative and make cards and journals at home.

Once you reach a certain age, lots of friends start getting married and having kids. I was the first of most of my friends to have a child, and I spent so much money on standard thank you cards. I wish I had discovered the Everyday Occasions Cardmaking Kit a few years ago. I made some cards on the weekend, and they look great while having such personal touch (including a "Created by" stamp!). All the difficult stuff is done for you, and there's even a brochure of examples (which I totally used as a guideline to create my own ideas).

Back to Basics with Monster Math Squad on Netflix Canada #StreamTeam

If I ever become famous and do one of those "25 Things You Don't Know About Me" with US Weekly magazine, one of my things would be that I got perfect on a city-wide math test in grade 4. If I felt honest, I would then share I went on to almost fail math in grades 10 and 11 and took grade 12 advanced math - twice.

Math has an unfortunate stigma attached to it, so I'm happy the Canadian show Monster Math Squad exists. It makes the basics of math fun for Hannah as she starts to learn about numbers and all the fascinating things you can figure out by using them.

New Shapes, Sizes and Pringles from Kellogg's Canada #KelloggCAInnovations #Kelloggers #Review #Giveaway

Once upon a time an amazing brown box arrived at my Mom's office (she is the official package receiver for YYZ Bambina) with the words "Pringles/Cereal" on it. This elicited great excitement from my Mom, Chris and of course, me. Truthfully, we are always excited when a new box from Kellogg's Canada arrives.

Almost a year ago my Mom was diagnosed with diabetes, which unfortunately runs in our family genes. She eats cereal every morning and needs it to be low in carbohydrates and sugars. It's not surprising she has quite the collection of Kellogg's Cereal in her pantry. She was happy to learn about new Rice Krispies Multi-Grain Shapes which are low in carbs and sugar. They also have no artificial flavours or colours, are fortified with Vitamin D, made with whole grain and are an excellent source of iron.

When the Kellogg's Krave Chocolate Flavour Cereal came out of the box, you would have thought it was Christmas with the look on Chris' face. The fact that in was Family Size just made it better - now you can make your kids (or kid at heart) extra happy too with a bigger box to purchase in the cereal aisle.

Dig Out Your Blender For A Healthy Energy Boost with Kiss Me Organics Matcha Green Tea #Review

As Chris is the cook at our house, he wrote this review.

One of the many, MANY benefits of being with Sarah is getting the opportunity to try out healthy and tasty foods and beverages. So when she asked me to give Kiss Me Organics Matcha Green Tea Powder a taste test, I was all over it.

I chose the Berry Good Morning Smoothie recipe – unfortunately the supermarket was out of strawberries (to the dismay of both Hannah and myself – she loves coming with me to buy groceries) so I just doubled the blueberries.

Shoo away Back to School germs with Boogie Wipes #Review & #Giveaway

Hannah might not be going back to school - she's been at daycare and then preschool all summer - but the germs are definitely coming back. Soon the crisp fall weather will force her and her friends indoors more often, and as they share toys, books and markers so too they will share their germs.

I've never been more sick than when Hannah started daycare two winters ago. Last winter was slightly better, but not by much. It breaks my heart when she has a Rudolph nose...and I hate having one right along with her!

Thank goodness for Boogie Wipes, the first ever saline nose wipe for sore, red, runny noses.