Today I had the pleasure of visiting Cheryl&Co, a premiere cookie company that makes my mouth water. I should also probably rephrase. Not only did I get to visit the company but both BigBrother and LittleBrother got to mingle with other Ohio bloggers’ kids. If you’re not familiar with Cheryl&Co, you might be living under a rock. Or you’re my mother. Or you’re living with my mother under a rock. They are, in fact, my mother-in-law’s very favorite thing. Ever. So she’s jealous that I got to visit the company and take the grand tour.

And eat lots of buttercream frosting.

I will be honest and say that I don’t have much of a sweet tooth. I prefer salty things. But I do like Cheryl&Co’s cookies. And brownies, which was the main point of today’s adventure as it is National Brownie Day. But more on that later. Let’s look at some pictures.

We were treated to a fabulous lunch and then we took the grand tour. I don’t have many pictures from the tour itself as we weren’t supposed to take pictures of the super secret equipment… like the automated ramp that large chunks of cookie dough went up and then dropped into another thing that made them into teeny-tiny balls to be frozen and cooked later. (As Vanessa Druckman said, I wanted a spoon so I could just dig in. So good.) I did capture a picture of some Christmas tree cookies as we walked by.

And we saw the brownies. It would take me eight years to make them that smooth on top. EIGHT. YEARS.

And then we got to have a turn at making fancy stuff!

When I say we got to have our hand at making fancy things, I wasn’t referring to the things above. I mean, you’ve seen my cakes. Does that really look like something I could do on my own? Not likely. Those were out for us when we walked into the test kitchen. We did, however, get to have our hand at icing our brownies and learning how to make cutouts out of white chocolate dough.

This looks more like my handy work, doesn’t it?

The best part of the day for me, aside from sugar and (ZOMG!) free babysitting, was hanging out with Christina (of A Mommy Story) and Heather (of Domestic Extraordinaire). They’re goofballs. I can say that since Christina posted a twitpic of me in my lovely (green!) hairnet. So here they are. In theirs.

Snort. Too fun.

So, yes, we had a lovely day. We came home with goodies, which included far too many cookies for this family to eat and these really, really adorable jingle-jangle-y ears for the boys.

If I didn’t already have a Christmas card, that would be it. And, yes, BigBrother is holding LittleBrother’s face so he’ll look at the camera. No, it probably wasn’t nice of him but, darn, it was cute. (Don’t be surprised if you see this on the main blog come Christmas day. I love it. There are others.) But, yes, they had a lovely day, too. Why? Apparently they watched Toy Story. It’s almost as if Cheryl&Co researched my family.

Anyway, I tell you all of this not to gloat. I tell you all of this because today is National Brownie Day. Cheryl&Co is offering 30% off of orders. TODAY ONLY. Go place your orders. Quickly. Promptly. But please don’t send any more to me right now. I’m kind of drowning in cookies. And that’s a perfectly acceptable way to drown, don’t you think? If you miss today’s 30% off sale, you can use code BRN10 on their website through January 31, 2010 for $10.00 off any purchase. Splendid.

But wait, there’s more!

We’re giving away a Cheryl&Co Ultimate Brownie Assortment. Sounds yummy, doesn’t it? What does the Ultimate Brownie Assortment Entail? 18 individually wrapped Cheryl&Co brownies with the new buttercream frosted peanut butter, classic vanilla and new hot fudge. And even toffee crunch, classic fudge, blondie and oatmeal scotchie. It’s a huge bunch o’brownies! See?

Mmm.

So how do you win? Three ways:

1. Visit Cheryl&Co, poke around and come back and tell me what you think your favorite edible product would be. Cookie? Brownie? Sugar free products? Kosher ones? Let me know. Leave your favorite product in a comment on this post. Drool that ruins your keyboard is your own responsibility. You may do this once.

2. Follow @FireMom (me!) and @CherylandCo and then tweet about this giveaway by copy/pasting this into your twitter stream: Win $50 worth of brownies from @CherylandCo and @FireMom! YUM! http://bit.ly/4wkjSg . Please come back and leave me the individual URL of your tweet. You may do this as many times as you so desire.

3. Blog about this giveaway on your public blog with a link to this post and Cheryl&Co. Please come back to leave your link. You may do this once.

A winner will be chosen one week from today, Tuesday, December 15, 2009, at 9pm EST. The winner will be contacted via email for their shipping information. The prize will be shipped from Cheryl&Co!

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask. In the meantime, I’ll be eating my cookies. And brownies. And the big cup of buttercream frosting that I brought home. Because I can.

But forget the tiny spoon. Large spoon. Or directly into my mouth. You know. Either way. I’m classy that way.

Also, I will upload all of my photos to twitter and make them public for other bloggers and readers to look at. I will tag them “cheryl&co” and “National Brownie Day” and I will link here when they are all online. (But I have to run.)

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[Full Disclosure: I paid for nothing today. Except for my gas. I received free cookies, brownies, an apron, some chocolates, a gift card, BABYSITTING (ZOMG!), fun, lunch, laughter and I think I ate $500 worth of frosting. I was not required to blog about this event but, duuuuude, wouldn't you?]

If you’re not a regular reader of our main blog, you might not know that I love Christmas. (I love Christmas!) I was contacted two weeks ago about reviewing The Original Christmas Classics , Limited Keepsake Edition. I wiggled and giggled and said, “HOORAY!” What’s on this 3 DVD set?

• Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Cricket on the Hearth
• Frosty the Snowman, Frosty Returns
• Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town!, Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol, The Little Drummer Boy
• Plus a bonus CD with seven classic Christmas songs!

As a side note, I can make the high pitched noise that Rudolph’s nose makes. Just ask FireDad. He learned that on our very first Christmas together when I made the noise for him and he looked at me like I had two heads. And yet he still married me. That’s love.

Anyway, I’m thrilled to have this DVD set in our holiday library. Nothing beats the classics. Rudolph is one of my all time holiday favorites followed shortly behind by Frosty. While all of the new movies and shorts being released with well known characters are sure to engage our children, I love bonding with my boys over things that I once loved when I was their age… and still love. Dearly.

The best thing about this DVD set, other than bringing seven great Christmas shows to one place? No commercials! You can argue that, sure, these are on television every year and you can catch them on a nice snowy evening with your children. Except that, as an example, my children go to bed before primetime and can’t ever watch them when they’re on television. Furthermore, shows like these when presented on television are packed full of commercials that make kids go, “OH! I WANT THAT!” No thanks! Skip the commercials and the gimmes and watch it on your very on DVD player.

Want it? Good! We’re giving away one full DVD set. But not just for commenting. We want some audience participation! We’re having a coloring contest*! (Contest is a loosely used word here. It’s still a random giveaway but you can’t be entered to win if you don’t participate!)

Here’s how to enter:

1. Print out this picture of Frosty and have your child(ren) color it. You may allow each of your children to color the picture one time. (Three kids? Three different Frosty pages. One kid. One Frosty page.) If they want to add stickers and sequins and paint, well, you have to clean it up and I don’t so, sure, go at it! (Note: Selecting print preview and changing the orientation to landscape and the size to 125% makes it a full size picture but is not required.)

2. Take a picture of your child with his/her creation. If you do not wish for your child’s likeness to be used online, take a picture of the creation itself without your child’s beautiful, smiling face.

3. Email the picture with the following information: your name, your blog URL and name (if you have one), your child’s name (as you would like to have it used online), and your child’s age. My email is firemom [at] stopdropandblog [dot] com. Please put COLORING CONTEST (in caps) in the subject line so I can find your entry! Please send a separate email and picture for each of your children. (That makes it easy to enter into my spreadsheet! Help me out!)

3a. You may also post your entry on your own public blog with a link to this giveaway for an extra entry. Please send a separate email with a link to your URL so that I may enter that on my spreadsheet as well. Use COLORING CONTEST (in caps) as your subject again.

Entries will be accepted until Friday, November 27, 2009 (also known as BLACK FRIDAY) at noon. The winner will be pulled via random.org and contacted via email. DVD will be shipped straight from my contact, not from me. Winner will be posted with the winning photo on Stop, Drop & Blog with a link to your blog (if you are a blogger). On that post I will also share pictures of BigBrother and LittleBrother’s coloring pages (but they’re obviously not entered in the giveaway; that would be silly!). We will also do a collage of all entrants and include links to all who participated (and gave their blog URL)  on that post. It will be a big, happy holiday celebration!

That’s about it! Go ahead and download the picture, print it out and get to coloring.

And if you don’t win? Pick up The Original Christmas Classics . It’s currently $21.49 on Amazon. A great gift for your children or a stocking stuffer for an adult who grew up adoring these holiday classics.

When One2One Network asked if I wanted to review Five For Fighting’s new album, Slice, I agreed with a nostalgic smile. Five for Fighting had a hit single in 2000 with “Superman (It’s Not Easy)” which, of course, was right in the middle of my college career. As such, the music is so entwined in those memories, both good and bad. I have a soft spot for John Ondrasik’s (the man behind Five For Fighting) music.

I had high hopes for the new album. I was not disappointed. Song after song rolled by on my first and second and third listens and, while it took a listen or two for a few songs, they began to entangle themselves in my present day memory making. It’s not surprising, of course, as I love when piano is evident in music of any genre. The special thing about Five For Fighting, however, is that while the musical part is above and beyond anything else on the Top 40 lists right now, the lyrics are those that hit you in your deepest of places.

I wasn’t expecting the song, “To The Unknown Soldier.” As a wife of an Army Veteran, this one hit me. Hard. It ends with the line, “My kids will know your name.” I can’t listen to the song without crying. I’m a sap for anyone who audibly respects our soldiers, especially to such a beautiful tune.

Of course, the big song on the album is “Chances.” It’s catchy with another beautiful tune. It’s easily singable and sticks in your head for hours and hours. And hours. Of course, the line that hits me is rather sappy:

No act of God could pull me away from you.

Aww.

The album is full of little gems like that one which is why it catapulted itself to one of the most played positions on my playlist. The other songs are just wonderful. Here’s the full tracklist:

1. Slice
2. Note To The Unknown Soldier
3. Tuesday
4. Chances
5. This Dance
6. Above The Timberline
7. Transfer
8. Hope
9. Story Of Your Life
10. Love Can’t Change The Weather
11. Augie Nieto

(Also, I love “Slice.” The song.)

John is also on twitter if you are interested in following him: @John Ondrasik. And, of course, Facebook as well.

Not enough? How about an autographed copy of the CD? Swanky, right? Here’s how you can enter:

1. Comment on this post with your favorite Five For Fighting song. If you’re not familiar with John’s work, guess which one you think you’ll like on the new CD.

2. Tweet about this giveaway by copy/pasting this into your twitter stream: Win an autorgraphed copy of Five For Fighting’s new album, Slice, from @FireMom: http://bit.ly/1Z1OhE . You may do this as many times as you so desire. Be sure to leave the link to the individual tweet each time.

3. Blog about this giveaway on your public blog with a link to this post. Be sure to come back and leave the link.

This giveaway will be live through Saturday, November 14th at noon. I need to have your information by the following day or you can’t get your copy! So be checking your email on Saturday the 14th! CD will be shipped from my contact, not me.

Seriously though, hit up the website and investigate the new songs. I know many of you will love them and relate in different ways.

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[Disclaimer: I received a free digital copy of the album in exchange for my honest review.]

I know. Halloween isn’t until the end of the week. But I already have designed, ordered and received my Christmas cards. Don’t hate me. Or judge me. I’ve been on the ball this year! (I already ordered the boys’ Christmas pajamas as well.) I want to help you get on the holiday ball as well. First, let me tell you my experience with Vista Print and our Christmas cards.

I knew a few things about our Christmas cards before I even began to look at designs.

• I wanted a photo card.
• I wanted to use pictures from our family vacation at the beach on those photo cards.
• I wanted something that wasn’t going to break the bank.

I turned to Vista Print because they’ve been flawless for me for almost three years now. I was thrilled when I saw that they offered two sizes of photo holiday cards (4×8 and 5×7). I decided to go with the 4×8 cards. Why? Slightly cheaper and personal preference. (As a side note, Vista Print also offers non-photo cards, postcards for your holiday party invitations and even cute caricature cards!) When I decided to go with the 4×8 cards, I was then overwhelmed with my options as to style. I could have designed my own but I didn’t quite know what went with our beach pictures.

In fact, that was my biggest dilemma. Our beach pictures are not exactly holiday oriented. No snow. No long pants. They’re by the water. In the sand. In shorts. With short-sleeved green shirts. And a blue sky. Thankfully, Vista Print doesn’t only offer your typical green and red card with a Christmas tree (though they have those as well). There were over 20 pages to click through. These are the options I most pondered when trying to pick our design.

The palm tree was fun but slightly cheesy. The brown with green  and the green with black were both great. But we eventually chose the last, more colorful option with the Christmas ornaments. It just felt bright and cheery and seemed to match our chosen photos the best. We chose six photos to include on this particular card, uploaded them, added our text and came up with these amazing cards.

(If you are on my Christmas card mailing list, forget you have seen this card and be really surprised when it arrives in your mailbox!)

I was thrilled with how they turned out. We put the verse from Luke that is found in Charlie Brown’s Christmas on the back of the card as our family loves that particular one, verse and movie alike. Voila! The perfect Christmas card! For a fraction of the cost of some other places. Hooray! It was easy to put together (just upload your photos, adjust them if they cropped them wrong, add your text and ship) and the quality is fabulous. Again, I’m just thrilled. I want to frame our Christmas card.

And we want to give you 50 free holiday cards from Vista Print as well! We’re giving away 50 free cards of your choosing (one design). Here’s how to enter.

1. Visit VistaPrint’s Christmas card section and browse around. Come back to this post and let me know in a comment which design you would choose if you won. (You are not limited to the 4×8 cards.) As a side note, you can change your mind on your design if you win. You may do this once.

2. Tweet about this contest by copy/pasting the following into your twitter stream: Win 50 holiday cards from @VistaPrint and @FireMom: http://bit.ly/2HTZ4F . You may do this as many times as your followers will tolerate.

3. Post about this giveaway on your public blog, linking back to this post. Please leave a comment with your post URL so I am sure not to miss it!

This giveaway will be live until Friday, November 6 at noon. It’s a few days shorter than my normal giveaways but I want the winner to be able to create their cards with enough time for shipping, addressing and mailing back out. The time is especially necessary if the winner doesn’t have photos for their card just yet! We will choose a random winner who will be contacted by email. The winner has 24 hours to reply or another winner will be chosen! (Rules: Limited to the US.)

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.

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[Disclosure: I received my cards for free in exchange for this review.]

When One2One Network asked if I wanted to review Joshua Bell’s new album, At Home with Friends, I said yes but only because the playlist included Kristin Chenoweth. I’m in awe of her many talents and thought, “Well, if she’s on here, certainly the rest of the album will be somewhat decent.”

Somewhat decent doesn’t even begin to describe the rest of the album.

If you’re unfamiliar with Joshua Bell, he is a violinist. Perhaps when you think of the violin, you think of classical music. Perhaps you think, “That’s not my style.” While I personally love classical music as I was raised on it and sang it through college, I want you to know that this album is not just one classical song after another. There’s a great mix of genres and styles, all with Bell playing his finest. The title of the album and my previous mention of Chenoweth should let you know that he also invites some vocalists and other musicians to join him for some very unique collaborations. I was blown away by quite a few of these amazing pieces.

The track list looks like this:

I Loves You Porgy featuring Chris Botti, trumpet
Come Again featuring Sting, vocals
Oblivion featuring Carel Kraayenhof, bandoneon
Cinema Paradiso featuring Josh Groban, vocals
Para Tí featuring Tiempo Libre, various
My Funny Valentine featuring Kristin Chenoweth, vocals
Maybe So featuring Edgar Meyer Sam Bush and Mike Marshall, strings
Grieg: Sonata No. 3 featuring Sergei Rachmaninoff (Zenph re-performance)
Eleanor Rigby featuring Frankie Moreno, piano & vocals
O, Cease Thy Maiden Fair featuring Nathan Gunn, baritone
Il Postino featuring Carel Kraayenhof, bandoneon
Left Hand Song featuring Regina Spektor, piano & vocals
Chovendo Na Roseira featuring Dave Grusin, piano
Look Away featuring Edgar Meyer, bass and Chris Thile, mandolin
Variant Moods: Duet for Sitar & Violin featuring Anoushka Shankar, sitar
I’ll Take Manhattan featuring Marvin Hamlisch, piano
Left Hand featuring Regina Spektor, vocals

I have to say that I did love Chenoweth’s rendition of “My Funny Valentine.” Her range is outstanding. Furthermore, my other favorite on the album was the beautiful version of “Elanor Rigby.” In fact, the boys also love this song. Which brings me to my next point: TheBrothers like this CD. I’ll be honest when I say that they have very eclectic music tastes (everything from jazz to the 80’s to apparently now a random mix of classical) because we are constantly playing random styles of music in this house, day in and day out. I love that they now ask for “that violin guy” on occasion in the car. I happily play it for them. Have you ever heard an almost four year old pretend to be a violin? It is love.

If you’re interested in this album, you can check out Joshua Bell’s official website or become a fan on Facebook. Or you could win a copy here on Stop, Drop & Review. How do you enter?

1. Leave a comment as to which song you think would be your favorite on the album. You may do this once.

2. Tweet this giveaway by copy/pasting this into your twitter stream: Win the new Joshua Bell album, At Home with Friends: http://bit.ly/26vfrv (via @FireMom) – You may do this as many times as your twitter followers will allow without becoming disgruntled.

3. Post about this giveaway on your public blog, linking to this post. Come back and leave me the URL to your post so that I’m sure to catch it. You may do this once.

The give away will be live through Monday, November 2, 2009 at noon. I will contact the winner via email. If the winner does not respond within 24 hours, I will pull a new winner. Album will be shipped from contact, not me.

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[I received a complimentary copy of this album in exchange for my honest review.]

If I didn’t already love Harry Connick, Jr. from his stint on Will and Grace, I would be able to admit that I am fully in love with this talented (and handsome) man. His new album, entitled Your Songs, is a beautiful tribute to various well-loved songs over the years. Two of my favorite artists are honored with songs on this particular compilation (Elton John and Billy Joel). To make it even better, I would have to admit that this is the best I have ever heard Harry Connick Jr. sound. That’s not an insult. It’s a compliment of the highest degree.

I’ve never been a die-hard Harry Connick Jr. fan. I wasn’t a non-fan either. I enjoyed some of his songs on some of his albums. This, however, has pushed me over the edge to a legitimate fan. I must admit I’m surprised at this as I don’t usually enjoy current artists’ covers of other artists’ past songs. It usually rubs me the wrong way. This particular album, however, touched something in my music-loving soul and I won’t be turning back. Count me in as a fan. At this point, I’d buy tickets to a concert. (Not front row. I’m still too cheap to do that for any musician. But I’d get decent seats as long as he promised to sing “Your Song” by Elton John. Swoon.)

The full song list reads like a who’s who and what’s what of music.

All The Way (Frank Sinatra)
Just The Way You Are (Billy Joel)
Can’t Help Falling In Love With You (Elvis Presley)
And I Love Her (The Beatles)
(They Long To Be) Close To You (The Carpenters)
Besame Mucho
The Way You Look Tonight
First Time Ever I Saw Your Face (Roberta Flack)
Your Song (Elton John)
Some Enchanted Evening
And I Love You So (Don McLean)
Who Can I Turn To? (Tony Bennett)
Smile (Charlie Chaplin)
Mona Lisa (Nat King Cole)

Whew. That’s a pretty big setlist to step up to. I wonder of Harry Connick Jr. felt overwhelmed by the song choices as they began to materialize and finalize. I would have been; those are all some beautiful songs and some pretty big shoes to fill. The good news is that he fills those shoes and he does it well. For me to love an album of covers as much as I am right now, it has to be good. Trust me.

Which is why we’re excited to be giving away a copy of this lovely album! You can enter a few ways.

1. Leave a comment here with what you assume will be your favorite song on this album and/or your favorite all-time Harry Connick, Jr. song. You may do this once.

2. Copy/paste the following into your twitter stream, coming back to leave me the link to your tweet: Win a beautiful album by Harry Connick Jr at Stop, Drop & Review: http://bit.ly/2vx0kS (via @FireMom)

3. Post about this giveaway on your public blog with a link to this post. Come back to leave me your link so I’m sure to catch it!

This giveaway will be open until Monday, October 26 at 12:00pm (noon). I will pull a winner via random.org and contact said winner by email. You have 24 hours to reply before I pull another random winner. Album will be shipped from One2One, not me.

In the end, if you don’t win this giveaway and you even remotely like or have heard of either Harry Connick, Jr or the songs on the album, I encourage you to pick it up. The album is currently $9.99 on Amazon (10.12.09). As a side note, he’s also on Facebook!

(Mandy is our winner!)
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[I received a complimentary copy of this album from One2One Network in exchange for my honest review.]

Remember when I told you about the new Veggietales movie? We received a complimentary copy for review and I’ve had the chance to watch it (a few times). While I was already partial to VeggieTales in the first place, I’ve only fallen more in love with Bob the Tomato, Larry the Cucumber and the whole cast of (delicious and healthy) characters.

In the movie, Saint Nicholas: A Story of Joyful Giving, young and old(er) viewers alike are treated to a beautiful story about the importance and meaning of Christmas. I found it to be particularly relevant to life for children right now as one character, Laura Carrot, is worried that her dad might lose his job. As such, she may end up with nothing for Christmas. Enter a Christmas story about a boy (named Nicholas, of course) and what he discovered long ago that “changed Christmas forever.”

It’s an obvious Christmas story, made all the more wonderful by the VeggieTales characters, the wonderful music (remember the Matthew West and Amy Grant video?) and the general humor that Larry brings to this particular story. (He annoys Bob by interrupting his story. A lot. In funny ways, of course. But a lot.) I think, out of all the Veggietales movies we own, this may rank as a unanimous favorite. I love it for the teaching aspect, for the subtle and not-so-subtle lessons it offers my children without being boring. The kids love it because, again, while serious, it’s a humorous little treat. I don’t even think they realize that they’re learning.

We love this movie. Which is why we’re giving one copy away to a lucky reader! Interested in helping your children learn about the real meaning of Christmas and inspiring them to give year round? Here’s how you enter:

1. Leave a comment about how you plan on teaching your children that Christmas is more about giving than receiving. You may do this once.

2. Blog about this giveaway on your public blog, linking back to this post. Leave a comment here letting me know that you’ve done so.

3. Tweet about the giveaway. Copy/paste the following and come back with the link to your tweet: Help inspire your kids to give this Christmas w/ Veggietales & @FireMom: http://bit.ly/4cKEDM GIVEAWAY!

4. Post this on your Facebook or submit it to another social networking engine like StumbleUpon or Digg. Let me know via a comment that you have done so.

Restriction: US only.

This giveaway will be open until Wednesday, October 21, 2009 at noon. I’ll grab a random number (random.org) and contact the winner by email. You have 24 hour to respond before I seek out another winner. If you don’t win, the movie is available on Amazon for $9.99 right now (October 7, 2009).

I encourage you, even if you don’t purchase the video this Christmas, to teach your children the importance of giving this year. Many families are finding themselves in difficult financial situations, some for the first time ever. If you have any ability, please reach out to those families in need this year. The lesson you teach your child will be priceless and you will, quite likely, make the entire season for those to whom you give.

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This is just another post in our Media Review & Giveaway Extravaganza. Tune in tomorrow for another review + giveaway combo post!

Our boys have always listened to music as they drifted off to sleep. They both started out listening to one of my favorite classical piano mixes. As BigBrother grew and learned how to maneuver his CD player, he started listening to 80’s music at night. What can I say? He’s a cool dude. Whatever they’re listening to, the fact is that they love music. So do I. So does FireDad.

And now we’re all fans of Rockabye Baby.

I had heard of the company from another friend with children approximately the same age as mine. She had been given one of their CDs at the baby shower thrown in her honor. She loved it and eventually her children did as well. What is Rockabye Baby?

You take the music of some of your favorite rock artists, turn it into instrumental lullaby music with bells vibraphones and the like and put it on compilation CDs for you and your child to enjoy. Sounds… interesting? It is. From their About page, they say, “Believe me, making an album that’s gentle enough for sleeping babies but won’t bore Mom and Dad is trickier than it sounds.” Having listened their offerings from U2, Aerosmith and Smashing Pumpkins, I can tell you that I’m sure it was tricky. But the result is lovely. As they hoped, it’s quiet enough for the boys to fall asleep to and it’s not annoying to listen to as an adult. (In fact, I have a few of my favorite selections from each now on my laptop because it’s nice to have quiet music after a very hectic day.) What are my favorite songs on each of the three CDs we received? “With or Without You” by U2, “Sweet Emotion” by Aerosmith and “Tonight, Tonight” by Smashing Pumpkins. They’re just nice songs.

In addition to the CDs we received, Rockabye Baby also offers AC/DC, The Beach Boys, The Beatles (two different compilations), Bjork, Bob Marley, Christmas Rock Classics, Coldplay, The Cure, The Eagles, Green Day, Led Zepplin, Metallica, Nine Inch Nails, Nirvana, No Doubt, Pink Floyd, The Pixies, Queen, Queens of the Stone Age, Radiohead, the Ramones, The Rolling Stones, and Tool. A little something for everyone who can’t stand normal lullabies. As a note, in case you were wondering or worried or missed the word instrumental above, there are no lyrics on these CDs. It’s all instrumental. As such, no choice words will be heard by your baby’s little ears. You may be thinking them as you’re rocking her to sleep but they’re not audible on the CD. Now, if you go ahead and sing them out loud and your child’s first word is of the four-letter variety, that’s not my fault or the fault of Rockabye Baby. Try humming along instead of singing.

Don’t believe just me. Rockabye Baby Music has celebrity fans (Kate Hudson, Tori Spelling, Denise Richards) and various awards. Cool. Or hip. Or whatever you’re supposed to say now.

Interested in checking out one of these great sleepytime soundtracks? Good! We’re giving one away! One winner will be able to choose which Rockabye Baby CD they want for their little sleepytime rockers. It will be mailed directly to the winner from the company.

Here’s how to enter.

1. Visit the site and look at the offerings. Come back and leave a comment on this post telling me which CD you would want if you won the giveaway. You may do this once.

2. Tweet the following: Win a rockin lullabye CD with Rockabye Baby & @FireMom: http://bit.ly/p8iFG …You may do this as many times as you so desire.

3. Blog about this giveaway on your public blog. Please come back and leave a link so I can make sure to catch it!

4. Post about this on your Facebook or submit it to Stumble Upon, Digg, del.icio.us or another such engine. Please let me know any pertinent information to find it (or if your Facebook is protected, just don’t lie).

This giveaway will be live until October 19th at noon. I will pull a winner via random.org at some point in time after the giveaway closes that day and contact the winner by email. The winner has 24 hours to respond before I pass it on to the next random winner.

I hope the winner enjoys this music as much as we did/do. I encourage you to pick one up (or download it!) if you don’t win as well. Good tunes for good sleeps!

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This post is part of a week long Media Review and Giveaway Extravaganza here on the blog. Please tune in every day this (work) week for another music or DVD review and to see if we’re giving away another fabulous offering! Tell your friends!

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[Disclosure: We received three complimentary copies to listen to and review. We received no addition compensation in exchange for our review.]

This is a compensated review from BlogHer and Ragu.

I get kind of high-strung about feeding my children. I mean, if you know me, you know that being high-strung is just part of who I am. The issues of food, health and nutrition are very important to me. Combine that with my older son’s texture issues and a schedule that keeps us busy, I sometimes struggle with our meal plans. It has gotten better since I have started planning our meals two weeks at a time. I find that knowing what we’re going to have (and, as such, I’m going to
make) helps with the flow of our day and our week.

I struggle, however, with recipes and new ideas. As I mentioned before, my older son has texture issues. New recipes are often met with looks of horror, whining and eventual tears and gagging. The truth is that he really likes most foods, he just has problems with new textures for the first bite or two. He loves flavorful things including anything with sauce. I’m pretty sure I could put sauce on just about anything and we’d be good to go at the dinner table. That’s why I was excited when BlogHer asked if I wanted to review three of Ragu’s new sauces and three new recipes. I figured new recipes would help me out and sauce would help BigBrother out. (For the record, if it holds still, LittleBrother will eat it. He might even eat it if it moves. Just a warning.)

We received three different sauces: Sweet Tomato Basil (new!), Margherita (new!) and Cheesy Classic Alfredo (mmm). With these three different sauces we made three different meals. I first made Chicken Margherita. I think this might rank up there with my favorite sauces. I’ll definitely be purchasing it again. As I made it like it looks in the picture on the recipe itself, I made a bit of pasta with the chicken itself as a side. The boys preferred the pasta to the chicken itself but they ate both without (much) complaint. FireDad and I really liked the sauce with the mozzarella cheese on
this particular recipe. We’ve saved it as a “to make again” recipe.

The next recipe I tried out was the Upside Down Deep-Dish Pizza. My kids love anything that claims to be pizza. This one looks a bit more confusing because, after all, the crust is on the top! I chose to go with the spinach (though BigBrother might have enjoyed the broccoli better; it’s hard to tell). This was a really quick and easy meal to make that we enjoyed. I got some initial hesitation from BigBrother because of the “green stuff” but he ate it as well. I was really pleased with the flavor of this sauce and the meal in general. (Recipe change: I added pepperoni because, well, I like pepperoni!)

Our last recipe was the Chicken Alfredo with Fetticuine. Can you just say delicious? While I do have my own recipe for “from scratch” alfredo sauce, I loved the taste of this sauce and the ease of making the dish. Homemade sauce is wonderful but when you’re crunched for time, it’s nice to have an alternative that tastes rather delicious! The boys loved this dish, being a fan of noodles, chicken and sauce. It was a win with all in our house. (The picture below is of how I changed up the recipe with shrimp because apparently I forgot a picture of our chicken day and/or can’t find it on one of our three cameras. Hmm.)

Why have I told you all of this? Well, BlogHer and Ragu want to know what you do to feed your kids well. For discussing the topic, one randomly selected comment will walk away with a $100 Visa gift card! You can use it to purchase some healthy foods for your kids or, you know, a new fall sweater for yourself. However you want to spend it is
up to you. But first you have to enter!

How do you enter?

1. Leave a comment below telling me what you do to feed your kids well. Take that however you want to: planning meals in advance, eating only organic, encouraging them to try no foods, banning certain things or promoting other things. You may leave one comment of this nature. No duplicates.

2. You can earn extra entries by tweeting about this giveaway or blogging about it on your own public blog. Simply tweet or blog with a link to this post (you can use this link: http://bit.ly/38tpSW ) and come back with a link to your tweet or post. You may do this once a day.

Of course, there are some official rules. They read:

• This giveaway is open to US residents, aged 18 and older.
• Winners will be selected via random draw, and will notified by e-mail.
• You have 48 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.

To make matters even sweeter (which makes me think of the Sweet Tomato Basil sauce), you have more than just a chance on our blog to win! Check out the rest of the BlogHer Reviewers’ Ragu meals – you have 10 chance to win a $100 Visa gift card. And, for kid-friendly recipes, healthy tips and more, be sure to visit Ragu.com. If you have any questions about this giveaway, the other BlogHer-Ragu giveaways or the recipes which we made, please don’t hesitate to ask.

I look forward to reading your comments! (Any tips on texture issues, healthy eating and kids would also be appreciated!)

If you have a cell phone and anything with a speaker, you’ve probably heard some form of feedback. It’s an awful, nasty sound that is really aggravating when you’re trying to listen to something on television or sleep next to your child’s baby monitor. I hate it. The truth is that I like to sleep with my television on (hush) and my cell phone also has to be near me in case of an emergency. This creates some awful feedback which makes it hard to sleep.

No longer!

The Buzz Killers (@TheBuzzKillers) presented their product at Swagapalooza earlier this month and I’m in love with their product. In short, it’s like a “mouse pad” for your phone. It’s a little plastic card that has a chip in it which, I’m sure, does something scientific. You place your phone on the card. No more feedback. WIN!

For a more in depth look at the Buzz Killer card, head over to MomTV to watch my video. While you’re there, you can learn about how to win one of these cards for yourself so you don’t have to listen to that awful sound ever again.

Or, you could enter right here! There are two ways to enter here.

1. Leave a comment about the model of cell phone you have and where it creates feedback (TV, radio, baby monitor, land-line phone). You may do this once.

2. Tweet about the giveaway using the hashtag #SDBBuzz with a link to this post (copy/paste link: http://bit.ly/2HMkh6 ). You may do this as many times as you please.

On October 12th at noon, we’ll stop accepting new entries and grab a winner via random.org. (That’s also the time that the MomTV giveaway ends though it has different rules so go watch the video!) We’ll contact you via email or twitter, depending on which of your entries won. If I don’t receive a reply within 24 hours, I’ll move on to the next random winner! Simple rules.

But, anyway, yes, we do love this product. As the guy said in his presentation, it’s a simple thing but, really, it’s just so wonderful. FireDad and I have hated the cell phone feedback for years. And now it’s gone. And it almost matches my phone. Snazzy.

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Disclosure: I received two cards for our home and three to giveaway from the company. This was part of the Swagapalooza event which encouraged ethical and transparent disclosure. I was not forced to blog about this product. I just think it’s awesome.