FireDad and I have been Guitar Hero fans for a long time. (You know, back when Playstation 2 was cool.) When Mom Central asked if we wanted to review the new Guitar Hero On Tour games for Nintendo’s DS platforms, I jumped around before responding that, yes, we were most certainly interested.

We were sent both Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades and Guitar Hero On Tour: Modern Hits. As FireDad has been working a lot lately, however, I took the games over to my friend Mandy’s house so we could give them a go as adults and then let her older daughters also play. (BigBrother and LittleBrother, while intelligent, are not really in the age range of either the DS or the Guitar Hero games. Thus, fun for me!)

Our review started out a little shaky. The directions on how to install the guitar grip, which is included with the games, were a bit confusing. It took us about 15 minutes to figure it out. I pride myself on being technologically up-to-date, even advanced in what I do with computers and video games. But it stumped me for awhile. Once we finally got it figured out, installed and turned on, we got to playing. We quickly learned that you had to press the buttons and strum on the touchpad side at the same time. No, I won’t tell you how long this took us to figure out or that one of the aforementioned daughters pointed it out to us. I swear we’re technologically advanced. I swear!

I played Modern Hits first. While I enjoyed the music myself, I don’t find it appropriate to include songs with blatant cussing even if it is bleeped out. You can argue that all of the Guitar Hero games have done this and I will argue that while I still enjoy the games, I’ll never enjoy cussing, bleeped or otherwise, in games that market to children and teens. It’s just not my style. That aside, I enjoyed trying to play my way through Evanescence’s song, “Sweet Sacrifice” and one by Lenny Kravitz, “Where are we runnin”. I did much better with Lenny than Evanescence though I did much better than Mandy in general. (I’m allowed to brag that, right?) On the Decades game, my favorite song was “Sweet Home Alabama.”

That song was what Mandy and I played together in the multi-player function. We found this, as opposed to our initial issues, to be easy to figure out. We simply went to the multi-player menu, hosted a game and the other joined. There were no connectivity issues at all. Just a few steps and we were ready to play a song together. That said, “Sweet Home Alabama” is a very, very long song. We laughed our way through the end of it. And, yes, we played on Easy. We’re not stupid!

I did find that, at one point, I had the strap from the guitar buttons piece strapped too tightly. As such, when I would get all excited and try to activate my Star Power, it would pull the connector out of the DS and I’d lose my game. As such, when I loosened my strap just a bit, giving my hand a bit more room, it did not come disconnected and I was a happy little guitar player.

In the end, minus the bleeped cussing, I really enjoyed the Guitar Hero On Tour games. I can see how these would be fun for adults or for teens on a long car ride when you can’t plug in a full gaming system and lug around big guitars. I found that the ease in which the two DS’s connected to play the game was really beneficial as it makes so that you only need to buy one of each for double the playing fun. (Anything to save money nowadays, right?) And so, would I suggest these games to people who love Guitar Hero, rock music and Nintendo DS? Yes! Even if it did make me feel like a techno-dumb-head for just a few minutes. Once I got it going, I didn’t want to stop playing!

(By the way, I know that I normally try to include my own pictures in review posts but we had so much fun playing that I forgot to take my camera out of the case. That’s how much fun we had; me, the one with the camera permanently attached to her eyeball. Yes.)

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Thanks to Mom Central for bringing some fun to our home!

Today is May 1st! (How’d that happen?) May brings flowers, warmer weather and… Mother’s Day. And I’ve got the perfect thing for my new and/or expectant mothers.

When Mom Central asked if I wanted to review the Evenflo Comfort Select Performance breast pump, I felt kind of nostalgic. LittleBrother officially weaned himself just awhile ago (which I have not written about yet) and, knowing that he is our last child, I’m somewhat emotional about the concept of never nursing another child. All the same, as many of you know, I’m a huge breastfeeding advocate and so a review (and giveaway) the helps mothers learn about breastfeeding is right up our alley.

Since my milk is now 100% gone, we didn’t actively open a box and review the pump. I did, however, take the box over to my good friend Mandy’s house. She’s a lactation consultant at the hospital where we delivered TheBrothers. In fact, she was my lactation consultant and helped me get through some of LittleBrother’s growth issues. She had some good things to say about the new Evenflo Comfort Select Performance.

She brought up the fact that in 2007, Evenflo acquired Ameda. She was hopeful that combining the two technologies together would result in even better breast pumps for mothers (and babies). She was pretty excited to see the results of that combination. She was also greatly pleased with the price of the breast pump, coming in at $69.99 on Amazon, it’s in much greater reach than some of the bigger pumps. Things like auto-cycling and being BPA free are also some great points that we both loved!

She did have one word of warning: this pump is not for premature babies or children with special needs. Mothers who are attempting to pump for those babies need a hospital grade pump as the situation is vastly different. Mothers who are also exclusively pumping for whatever the reason probably need a “bigger” pump as well. Quite honestly, I wish this pump would have existed when LittleBrother was born. Despite working from home, I had a conference to attend (without him… sigh) when he was three months old. As this pump didn’t exist, I had to get a much more expensive model. Mandy is pretty darn sure that this pump would have helped us get the milk stash that we needed in a three month period. Sadly, I’ll never get to find out.

But you can!

That’s right. We actually have two of these Evenflo Comfort Select Performance breast pumps to give away. One of them, however, is going to our local Pregnancy Center (cleared with thumbs up by Mom Central which only makes me love them more as they are obviously “pro” mothers by doing such a thing!). I’m also going to be offering some education to any current mothers utilizing the center as to how breastfeeding can save them time, money and is, in the end, easier for mom and baby. Oh, and you know, a million times better! So that leaves one breast pump and two boxes of Comfort Select nursing pads for our readers. How to win? A few ways.

1. If you’re an expectant mom, leave a comment letting me know about your excitement, fears or other emotions you have regarding your new baby and a breastfeeding relationship. Not only does that give you a chance to win but I’ll comment back or email you with some encouragement! You may do this once.

2. If you’re already a nursing mom, leave a letting me know why you think this pump would help you along in your breastfeeding relationship. If you’d like to encourage the expectant moms reading this post and entering the giveaway, feel free to share happy stories and beautiful nursing shots. (Be prepared for me to blubber at you.) You may do this once.

3. If you’re not a nursing mom (weep with me) but you know someone who is and want to attempt to win this for them (for Mother’s Day!), blog about this giveaway on your public blog with a link to this post and the Evenflo Comfort Select Performance. Tell me why you’re nominating someone to win (you don’t have to name them or link to them if you want it to be a surprise) and really let me know why that person deserves to win this breast pump. Come back and leave the link in case the pingback doesn’t work properly! You may write as many posts as you want to on your own blog about awesome nursing moms but make it one mom per post.

And, as a bonus entry:

4. Tweet about this giveaway by copy/pasting this into your twitter stream:

Win an #evenflocomfort breast pump for you or a nursing mom! Visit @FireMom: http://tinyurl.com/d7hs8u Until Sun, May 10 for Mother’s Day!

You can tweet about the giveaway as many times as you want throughout the contest. Do not leave a comment here with each tweet URL. I’ll catch them with the mentions and put them in my spreadsheet.

Giveaway ends at 12:00pm (noon) on Sunday, May 10, 2009. After I get LittleBrother down for a nap, I’ll finish adding any last minute entries to my spreadsheet and visit random.org to pull a winner. I’ll contact that winner by email and get things off to her on Monday. (Yes, I can do this on Mother’s Day because, as figures with the Fire Department, FireDad works on Mother’s Day. And Father’s Day. And he worked on my birthday this year. And his birthday! Fail. Anyway, gifting another mom or mom-to-be with a special present will make me feel less grumpy. So we go!)

If you want to improve your chances of winning, enter the giveaway at MomCentral. They have three Evenflo Comfort Select Performance pumps to give away! So go improve your chances!

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Congrats to our winner, Kristy, who is expecting baby number three! She successfully nursed her twins, now three, for a year so she’s excited to have a slightly easier go at it (hopefully) this time around! Thanks for all those that were tweeting this giveaway!

A week after my first post about JumpStart, BigBrother has started pestering me to play “the game” (as he calls it) not just every other day… but every day. I’m still limiting him to a half hour at a time but I can’t bring myself to say no. I enjoy playing with him, it’s educational and he has a blast. It seems like a win-win-win for me.

So, as we continue playing, I really want to feature what the two other bloggers involved in this campaign are talking about because they provide some necessary insight. As BigBrother is on the youngest age curve for the JumpStart games, listening to what these other moms (with older children) have to say about them can give you a big clue as to whether or not your child will excell with these games.

Carissa over at Good N Crazy had a great review last week. In fact, I’m going to quote what lead up to her video and then simply insist that you head over and watch it. Read why:

The thing is, there is so much going on visually and playfully that at some point he totally has no idea how much he’s learning. Colors, Counting, Letters, Phonics….

Take a look at this video I took of him. See how effortless subtraction is for a FOUR YEAR OLD, and bonus if you can tell what the word is he spells at the end…and the color of his socks!

Go watch the video on her post! Go!

I mean, seriously. Don’t you want your four year old to be having fun while learning that much stuff? I do. And we’re working on it over here as well!

Similarly, Angie at Seven Clown Circus had some great points to bring up and some raves of her own last week.

The 3 Dimensional aspect is really appealing to my children, and they’ve loved making their own avatars, adopting a pet and using the interactive maps to navigate around.

I especially love that the virtual world it is age appropriate for each child. My children can log in under their name and it will take them to areas appropriate for their age. My twins use the 0-4 years of age section, while my 5 year old uses the area for 4-7 year olds, and so on.

Again, as I only have one child yet using it (though LittleBrother is eventually going to wake up from a nap and catch BigBrother on the computer and flip his lid), I didn’t mention the customizable sections by age since we’re not utilizing that part. That’s why this new form of PR is beneficial to you, the reader, because you get a balanced view from various points of view! It’s fabulous

All the same, this week has been another great learning week in our household. We’re continuing on with JumpStart… and BigBrother is jumping up and down each day, begging for his half an hour on the computer. And I really can’t say no. Someday I figure it will be me begging for computer time. Great.

In the meantime, be sure to add Erin from JumpStart to your twitter followers and ask her questions! She can be found @jumpstart_erin. She does a fabulous job at answering questions and will likely have an answer for you as you consider JumpStart for your kiddos.

Tune in next week for… you guessed it… a giveaway of epic learning proportions! Hooray! I may also try to capture BigBrother on video for one last review portion but no promises there… when that child sees the video camera, he wants to man it. I think he may be gearing up for a future in film or reporting.

A few weeks ago, I was asked by a blogging friend if I wanted to join in on something awesome: a review process that wasn’t a one-time, ditch effort. A review process that ended up teaching our children something. A review process that started a dialogue about learning. After hearing what she was talking about, I jumped right in. Pun intended as I “jumped in” to JumpStart for BigBrother.

JumpStart is a great company for kids who are learning to read. As I wrote about today, BigBrother has always had a vast interest in all things letter (and number and shape and color and, well, learning). JumpStart itself is an “award-winning adventure-based 3D world” that teaches kids everything from math to reading and important critical thinking skills. The age range is from about 4-8 but we felt that BigBrother was ready for some of it so we, ahem, jumped right in.

Currently, we are playing the online game about every other day. We just finished up one part of Adventure Land. We have an online account that lets us play in the safe online “world” (but I should say that even though it is safe, I still always sit with my son at this age. Who knows what he could delete!). So far, I’ve had to teach him a few skills that he didn’t previously have. While he was pretty good with the mouse prior to JumpStart, I did have to teach him about arrow keys. He’s not quick with them just yet but he can find and maneuver them better than even just a week ago. His main complaint with the online world is that the load times are kind of slow because our internet is not the best (DSL). (That’s also my main complaint. Any time there is music, it loads very skippy-like due to our connection issues. Someday something like FIOS will come to our area and be affordable. Right?)

We were also sent a CD (The Legend of Grizzly McGuffin) that has two levels available and ten more that you unlock with your online account. Some great things about the games are that you can customize your child’s playing (as an example, you can send special messages through the game for things like birthdays and just special “good job” messages) and check in on your child’s progress (if you’re not sitting there with them like I am at this age). BigBrother is really enjoying the CD game which we are playing about two to three times a week (on days that FireDad is home as he thinks the CD is totally awesome and likes to help with this one).

I asked BigBrother what he thought of JumpStart. His answer, “It’s fun. I like letters and running with arrow buttons.” Nothing life-altering just yet. But he’s having fun and learning at the same time. I can get behind that. He has been pushing me for months now to help him learn to read. We sound out words together, play alphabet games on our own, work on writing letters and now we have added JumpStart to our learning process. Keeping things fresh helps keep him interested. I really enjoy it as well. The virtual world is one where I thrive (apparently) and seeing my son take an interest in all things computer and learning combined makes me feel excited (in a nerdy way, obviously).

To boot, JumpStart has also recently launched a blog. Not only do they have tips about their games but great bits of advice for things like cleaning and spelling. (Even better for you other techies out there, JumpStart can be found on twitter.)

But don’t just listen to my advice. Two other bloggers will be telling you about their childrens’ experience with JumpStart as well. Over the next three weeks, Carissa of Good and Crazy People and Angie of Seven Clown Circus will be chronicling their journey with the learning tool as well. In the end, there will be a giveaway with a total of six winners. So, I’d keep tuned in. To make things more interesting, Erin, from JumpStart, is also going to be available for questions. If you have a question specific to age ranges, learning disabilities, process of learning on the games or tips for adding JumpStart to your learning programs, Erin is willing to jump in with comments here on the blog. If you’d rather ask them in private, I can also forward you the information to speak with the company one-on-one.

Right now, JumpStart wants to get parents talking about learning. So, tell me, readers, what are you doing to get your younger children interested in reading and on the path to reading? How is it going? What do you think you need to add right now? What have you found that has and hasn’t worked yet? Let’s start a dialogue on the matter! And, for that matter, I really suggest either the CD versions of the games or an online account if you have a child who is computer happy and wants to learn to read. We’re enjoying them and I bet that you will as well.

If you know us as a family, you likely know that we’re kind of dorky. In many ways, of course. But today I’m talking about video games. We love them. We don’t spend all of our time playing them because there are other things to do like watch the History channel and read 60 books this year. But, all the same, we like video games. In like them, we also like GameStop. We buy most of our games (especially the pre-owned ones!) at the store.

And right now, I’m in love with GameStop. They’re hosting a new program called Sharpen the Mind, Shape the Body. I know, that doesn’t really sound like it fits in with the stereotypical video gaming, now does it? But if you’re familiar with some of the active and/or brain games that have come out in the past year, you likely get the idea.

I can speak personally about the awesomeness of Wii Fit. When we got it last May, I wasn’t sure what it would be like but I have been pleasantly surprised. It is not the only thing that I use in my exercise routine but it is what I do on days that it is impossible to get to the gym. (You know, due to fire scheduling issues or days when the sky opens and pours inches upon inches of snow topped with ice upon us. Yes, like today.) Now? I want My Fitness Coach. And I might get off my duff and go to the store. Why?

The whole Sharpen the Mind, Shape the Body sponsored by GameStop is an in-store promotion. As a special incentive, all shoppers who spend $35 or more on designated products will receive a free 12-month trial subscription to their choice of Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, Redbook, Good Housekeeping or Esquire. To hit my $35.00 I might also finally break down and get the silicone sleeve for my Wii Fit board.

If one of your goals this year is to shape up either yoru mind or your body, hit up GameStop’s Sharpen the Mind, Shape the Body promotion and get some good magazines for yourself. (Thanks to Mom Central for the heads up. I love me free magazine subscriptions.)

When Mom Central sent us Madagascar 2, Escape to Africa to review, I was somewhat excited. I like single player games that really have that adventure storyline but aren’t full of guns and what not. I know, I’m very boring when it comes to my game choice. But, remember, I grew up on Mario Brothers!

I found that the game was easy to start, understand and continue to play. I was not confused by any menus or choices. I did enjoy the two player mini-games that were also included, as did FireDad. The main game, as you might guess, is a kind of fun-little Safari adventure! It obviously features the characters from the movie(s) which wasn’t lost on me, having seen the first one, but was lost on BigBrother as he hasn’t (and won’t yet) seen either one. However, that didn’t seem to matter as he quite enjoyed watching the characters on the screen and telling me what to do.

FireDad and I only had one complaint, that being that the main adventure game wasn’t two player. We use our Wii, after the kids go to bed, for a little fun, relaxing, geeky-type bonding. We would have really liked to play this together. But other than that we give a thumbs up to the graphics, the sound and the general “fun-factor” of the game.

We obviously reviewed the game for Wii but it is also available on PSP, DS, XBox, Playstation and PS2   . It is also rated Everyone 10+ which is only part of the reason that BigBrother didn’t play. (You know, that and he has just turned three and we don’t allow him to play just yet. But he can watch certain things.) The rating is for moderate cartoon violence which, if you child has seen either movie, you’re probably not all that concerned about, but, just in case, there’s the rating! (Visit the main site for more info!)

I really recommend this as a great game to buy for your 10+ child this Christmas. While it’s only one player, it is a game that each member of the family can enjoy! (Plus, don’t forget the mini-games! Fun!)

When Parent Blogger Network asked if I wanted to review Boogie Superstar (with Microphone) for Wii, my Husband laughed. “As if you need to ask,” was close to what he said. In my day, I was a karaoke junkie. Then I had kids and didn’t have as much time to devote to bar life. And so karaoke in my home sounded fabulous!

To review this product, I first tried it out myself. Okay, so, maybe FireDad was also in the room being amused. But mostly it was by myself. Some things that I loved:

1. I had a BLAST making my character. I was initially disappointed that some of the clothing choices were “locked” but enjoyed taking the time to unlock them later on. Making my character made me feel young and hip again. Especially considering how I have no fashion sense, especially not a hip, urban and young fashion sense. Win.

2. It was pretty easy to sing along to the songs I knew. However it was also shockingly easy to sing along to the songs I didn’t know. Of course, I’ll be honest, one of my majors in college was vocal performance and I’m in a local chorale now. Sight-reading is kind of my “thing” but even my non-musically-inclined Husband mentioned that being able to see how long the note was supposed to go was pretty darn handy.

3. I had to practice the dance moves a few times and then change the batteries in my Wii-mote in order to get a good hand on them. While this sounds like a bad thing, I’m telling you simply because at first I was upset! I danced for eons growing up and into college! Certainly I could master some simple arm motions! After I changed the battery in my Wii-mote, the sensor bar better picked up what I was doing and the game stopped telling me that I was failing. It also worked best when LittleBrother wasn’t standing directly in front of the sensor. You know, details.

Things I didn’t like? In one song, just as an example right off the top of my head, “Makes Me Wonder” (originally performed by Maroon 5 and, as such, one I knew), has a cuss word. It starts with a d and ends with an amn. When it got to that point, which registered in my brain that it was coming up since I knew the words, it just had a blank spot. My Husband noted that I got it marked wrong for not singing there… twice… so I don’t know what that issue was. Maybe I was just really shocked that they didn’t put in a non-cuss word, even if it didn’t rhyme, into a game that was geared for ten year old children (and above). Who knows. I didn’t choose this song for my 10 year old reviewer to play later.

I also initially had trouble with trying to actually play. On the screen where you select how you’re going to play, I kept hitting wrong buttons and got sent back three times. Of note: my ten year old reviewer did not have this issue. Apparently I fail.

As I said, I brought over, with her mother’s permission, a ten year old girl to try out this game. She loved similar things: clothing changes (especially hair), the singing, the dancing and basically the entire game. She, being young and much more hip than I am, knew a majority of the pre-unlocked songs. I didn’t notice any missing cuss words in those songs but I will also admit to not knowing their lyrics ahead of time to know the difference. Her Mom didn’t like a few of the options because of the content of said lyrics. I will just simply say “Toxic” and Britney Spears and the majority of you will nod your head in agreement. I’m just not sure how that is ever appropriate for anyone under… 35. Including Britney.

All the same, we had a blast playing this game together. And I think that is a great point. While your children (ages ten and up PLEASE) are bound to love this game, my guess is that you could have some really good bonding moments while boogieing around your living room with this game. I know that I had a blast with my friend and her daughter and even with just my Husband while we tested it out first by ourselves. Heck, even LittleBrother had fun dancing to the music while I sang. (BigBrother was at school each time we busted the game out. We’re not stupid. We never would have gotten the microphone back!)

And so, if you’re looking for a Christmas gift for your Wii-loving, karaoke-singing household, this might just be one you should pick up!