Four Silly Sisters Review

The Mountains Bow Down: Book Review and Giveaway

2011-03-25T23:03:00.003-04:00

From the Publisher:

About The Mountains Bow Down: Everything's going to work out. Time away always makes things better . . ..

That's what FBI Special Agent Raleigh Harmon believes as she boards a cruise to Alaska. A land of mountains and gems and minerals, The Last Frontier is a dream destination for this forensic geologist who's hoping to leave behind a hectic work schedule and an engagement drained of romance.

But when a passenger goes missing and winds up dead, Raleigh's vacation suddenly gets lost at sea. The ship's security chief tries to rule the death a suicide, but Raleigh's forensics background points to a much darker conclusion: Somewhere onboard, a ruthless murderer walks free.

Engulfed by one of her toughest cases yet, Raleigh requests assistance from the FBI and receives her nemesis-perpetual ladies man Special Agent Jack Stephanson. As the cruise ship sails through the Inside Passage, Raleigh has five days to solve a high-profile murder, provide consultation for a movie filming onboard, and figure out her increasingly complicated feelings for Jack-who might not be such a jerk after all.

And that's only her work life. Family offers even more challenges. Joined on the cruise by her mother and aunt, Raleigh watches helplessly as disturbing rifts splinter her family.

Like the scenery that surrounds the cruise ship, Raleigh discovers a situation so steep and so complex that even the mountains might bow down.

My Review and A Book Giveaway:

I was a little bit worried when I realized I was starting Sibella Giorello's Raleigh Harmon series by reading the 4th book, but instead of being a problem, reading The Mountains Bow Down simply made me want to go back and check out the first 3 books in this series. My kids were sick and we weren't out of the house any, but I managed to sneak in reading time and finished it in only a day or two. I enjoyed the plot twists and the unpredictability of the murder mystery. I also appreciated the lack of guts and gore. The way Giorello beautifully paints the setting with words was also a big draw for me, as I would love to visit Alaska some day! Overall, this was a really good, quick read, mystery novel.

Did I mention that my kids were sick while I was reading this?? Yeah, well you now can benefit from my sleepless nights. As a result of too many all nighters I didn't realize I had received my copy for review, and by the time the second was on the way I found the original. So, now I have a copy to give away to one lucky reader. Simply leave a comment on this post and we'll let random.org choose a winner on April 1st at 11AM EST. Don't forget to leave your contact info in the comment.

Sibella’s celebrating the release of The Mountains Bow Down with a blog tour, a Cruise prize pack worth over $500 and a Facebook Party! Don't miss a minute of the fun.

One Grand Prize winner will receive:

A $500 gift certificate toward the cruise of their choice from Vacations To Go.

The entire set of the Raleigh Harmon series.

To enter click one of the icons below. Then tell your friends. And enter soon - the giveaway ends on 4/1! The winner will be announced at Sibella’s Raleigh Harmon Book Club Party on FB April 5th, 2011! Don’t miss the fun – prizes, books and gab!

About the Facebook Party: Join Sibella and fans of the Raleigh Harmon series on April 5th at 5:00 pm PST (6 MST, 7 CST & 8 EST) for a Facebook Book Club Party. Sibella will be giving away some fun prizes, testing your trivia skills and hosting a book chat about the Raleigh Harmon books. Have questions you'd like to chat about - leave them on the Event page.

This review is part of the LitFuse Publicity Groups' blog tour, so you can read what other bloggers have to say about this book as well by clicking here.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book for review and a copy to give away to one reader. I did not receive any other compensation for this review. All opinions are 100% my own.

2010-08-23T23:01:00.003-04:00

The first day of kindergarten here was fabulous! The school is great, the teacher is precious, and the other classmates provided my oldest with lots of ideas for chatter this afternoon with her sisters. Win, win!!

Speaking of winning... the winner of the Staples $25 gift card (after a quick coin toss) was from comment number 2. So MimiB please shoot me an email with your mailing address and I will get your card right out to you. Thanks!

STAPLES Back to School

2010-08-18T07:36:00.000-04:00

It is almost back to school time here.... or should I say Off to School for the first time?!? We'll officially have a Kindergartner in the house next week, and school shopping has been high on our list of things to do lately.

Somewhere amidst all our shopping and planning and paper signing, Staples sent us some really cool back to school products for review.

Some of our favorites:

I personally loved all the goodies from the DoSomething.org line of products. I think it is outstanding that as a company Staples donated over $125K to start off their Do Something 101 Back to School supply drive!

The new kindergartner of the house loved setting up her own personal desk in her room with the Glam Rocks Stapler, Pen, and Calculator. She is all about staplers these days, and the Go Glam products fit her personality to a T.

The best part: Staples has offered a $25 Gift Card to one of my readers to help with back to school shopping. For my local readers, I know there isn't a Staples within 35 miles of here, but their website is completely user friendly and really makes you want to say "that was easy" about shopping there.

To enter to win simply leave a comment here letting me know if school's in yet where you live or not... and any advice you may have about first day jitters for the mommy is also greatly appreciated! Contest will end on Monday, Aug. 23rd at noon.

This review was written as part of Staples Back to School Blogger Tour. Staples provided me with a goodie bag of items for review and the $25 Gift Card to give away to one of you. As always the opinions given are my very own.

Rayovac Powers Your Summer!

2010-06-22T09:23:00.004-04:00

Whoa, it's been a v ery long time since I've posted over here! Things have been zooming along at break neck speed lately, but I had to stop and take a minute to share the news about Rayovac's Power Your Summer Promotion.

Simply go to Rayovac Powers Your Summer and enter to win daily prizes ranging from Bikes, Camping Supplies, Cameras, and a Summer Supply of Rayovac Batteries!! So easy!!! Even though our summers are primarily KID powered, the winters would get pretty long without our games... many of which require batteries.

If you use Twitter, then be sure to check out their Twitter event on June 30th as well.

Discolsure: The first 99 bloggers to promote the Rayovac Powers Your Summer Event won a prize packaage from Rayovac.

FedEx Out of Office Blog

2010-01-08T00:04:00.003-05:00

This time of year while we're trapped in the house for days due to the cold weather, I'm on the lookout for crafts and project ideas to keep the girls busy. I've found a couple of great new ideas over at the Out of Office blog from FedEx Office. It offers ideas for projects, parties, and presents year round!

For example, the Four Silly Sisters will soon be making winter place mats for our kitchen table, inspired by a post from the Out of Office blog. Our biggest difficulty will be 40 miles between us and the nearest FedEx Office store.

In addition to the craft ideas, I've found many of the posts on the Out of Office blog to be useful for home organization and gift ideas as well. They've got everything from chore charts to ways to re purpose your children's art work..... boy am I going to need these in the near future!?! I can't even imagine the volume of school work that is going to come home once the trio enter "big school".

I'm not a crafty person at all, and I have a house full of little people who are craft lovers. Therefore, I've enjoyed perusing this new site for ideas, and I look forward to using these ideas as inspiration for beating a bit of winter boredom.

I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of FedEx Office. In addition, Mom Central sent me a gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.

ABC Bible Verse Songs for Kids- Review

2009-11-28T22:59:00.003-05:00

The Four Silly Sisters all love to perform. They love to sing, and dance, and grab an audience. So it was with great pleasure that we received a copy of Ms. Candace's ABC Bible Memory Verse Songs from her Sonbeams site. What better way to hide God's word in their little hearts than by setting those words to music. I seldom forget the words to songs once I have learned them. I can still remember all the songs from the musicals I performed in as a child, and considering how terrible my memory is these days, it must be the music that is keeping all those words locked in up there!

Ms. Candace has done a great job of selecting the verses to correspond with each letter of the alphabet and putting it all to music. The girls especially enjoy the upbeat tempo songs. I think this will be a great tool to use for helping the girls to memorize Bible verses. It will also be handy to keep in the car so that I can listen along with them and memorize a few more verses myself, although the memorization doesn't come quite as easily as it once did! I plan to share our copy with the girls' Sunday school teachers at church as well to see if they would be interested in using it for Scripture memorization.

You can hear samples of the songs by clicking here and scrolling down to ABC Memory Verse Songs... I think it may say there that it is only available as a download, but the CD is now available.

Sonbeams is having a sale and from now until Monday November 30th you can buy these CDs with shipping for only $10. That doesn't leave much time, but if you are interested pop on over there and check out the ABC Bible Verse CD's even if you don't get to it by Monday because they are still reasonably priced at $13.95.

Thank you Ms. Candace for the opportunity to review this product. I look forward to enjoying the fruits it will provide... my sweet children's voices singing Bible verses!!

Click here to go to Sonbeams website!

Disclosure: I was given a copy of the music for this review and am using affiliate links in this post.

Sesame Street K'NEX Review and Contest

2009-11-23T20:02:00.009-05:00

The Four Silly Sisters all really love the K'NEX Sesame Street building sets. The folks at Team Mom sent us the Police Station to review, and it is a big hit.

As a mom, I love that the K'NEX sets promote imaginative play. There are lots of options so they can build and rebuild and rebuild. I just love that a good building set utilizes many important skills and encourages thinking and problem solving while also providing hours of enjoyment!

The girls all like to take turns putting the things together in their own ways and then discussing their creations with each other.

These building toys are also very durable and good quality. We have a couple of sets that we purchased and were given for reviews last year around Christmas time, and after a year of hard play they are none the worse for wear.

We very much enjoy the K'NEX Sesame Street Neighborhood Collection building set that we received from Team Mom for this review, and we are likely to purchase more in the future.

You can find the K'NEX Sesame Street Neighborhood Collection building sets, of which there are 4, on their web site, as well as Target, Walmart, and Toys "R" Us stores.

Additionally, K'NEX is sponsoring a Video Contest in which you have the chance to win $1,000 worth of K'NEX Building Sets. See the official rules for details on how to enter located on their web site.

Book Tour: Lost Mission by Athol Dickson

2009-11-16T23:12:00.003-05:00

First the scoop from the back cover.....about the book:
What haunting legacy awaits deep beneath the barrios and wealthy enclaves of Southern California?

A billionaire driven mad by grief.

A pastor in love with the wrong woman.

An illegal immigrant desperate to feed his family.

Only Lupe de la Garza can save them from the ancient evil lurking in a lost mission's ruins, but it will take an act of faith beyond all human power.

An idyllic Spanish mission collapses in the eighteenth century atop the supernatural evidence of a shocking crime. Twelve generations later the ground is opened up, the forgotten ruins are disturbed, and rich and poor alike confront the onslaught of resurging hell on earth. Caught up in the catastrophe are...
· A humble shopkeeper compelled to leave her tiny village deep in Mexico to preach in America
· A minister wracked with guilt for loving the wrong woman
· An unimaginably wealthy man, blinded to the consequences of his grand plans
· A devoted father and husband driven to a horrible discovery that changes everything

Will the evil that destroyed the Misión de Santa Dolores rise to overwhelm them? Or will they beat back the terrible desires that led to the mission's good Franciscan founder's standing in the midst of flames ignited by his enemies and friends alike more than two centuries ago?

From the high Sierra Madre mountains to the harsh Sonoran desert, from the privileged world of millionaire moguls to the impoverished immigrants who serve them, Athol Dickson once again weaves a gripping story of suspense that spans centuries and cultures to explore the abiding possibility of miracles.

About the author:
Athol Dickson is an award-winning author of several novels. His Christy Award-winning novel River Rising was name one of the "Top Ten Christian Novel of 2006" by Booklist magazine. He lives in California with his wife. Find out more about Athol and his books by visiting his website.

My thoughts:

I thought this was a very good read. It wasn't one of those books that I just couldn't put down until closer to the end, but I still thought it moved quickly and once I neared the end I couldn't read fast enough.

While it was a bit confusing at first, I quickly came to enjoy the way the author paralleled the historical with the modern by flipping from one era to the other within each chapter.

I also really loved the fact that it wasn't tied up all nice, neat, every question answered, in a cute little bow at the end. It certainly makes you think about witnessing to others, greed, the effects of mega churches, immigration, and numerous other issues.

After reading this novel I will definitely check out his other books!

A Contest:

Tweet this and be entered to win signed copies of Athol’s award winning books:

Tweet 4 words that describe Athol Dickson’s #LostMission along with this link: http://tr.im/BPD1

Or

Athol Dickson’s redemptive tale #LostMission is a MUST read! Gripping story about mistakes and miracles! http://tr.im/BPD1

(To be clear – to be entered into the contest your tweet must have these 2 elements 1. Athol Dickson’s #LostMission 2. this link: http://tr.im/BPD1).

Thank you, LitFuse, for providing a copy of LostMission for me to review. You can find other reviews of Lost Mission on the blog tour here.

Clean+Green Review

2009-10-05T15:02:00.005-04:00

Several months ago I was contacted about reviewing some eco-friendly pet odor removing cleaning products. I replied that while I no longer have any pets, I had a house full of newly potty trained little girls. Thankfully, the company, Sea-Yu Enterprises sent me a couple of their different products to try out anyway!

While I am grateful that I haven't had opportunity to use the products exactly as prescribed, Ella and I did a super duper house cleaning one day last week and decided to put the carpet and upholstery cleaner to the test. We removed all the cushions from our couch and loveseat, vacuumed underneath, and then after we replaced them we sprayed both couches down with the Clean + Green product. By the time they dried completely many of the very old stains and every bit of the odor was gone! (Our couches are OLD, and have lived through many years with a great big chocolate lab and more recently 4 young children, so this is really saying a great deal about this products' ability to remove stains and odors!!)

These are fabulous products! I would highly recommend them to anyone with indoor pets, and I'll be sending some to my little sister who has 2 large house dogs very soon!! Thank you Sea-Yu Enterprises for letting us test out a kid/ pet safe Clean+Green product that really works!

ebeanstalk & Plan Toys Activity Bus Review

2009-08-18T21:39:00.004-04:00

Choosing quality toys is not easy. However, there is a toy website called ebeanstalk, dedicated to selecting good, safe, educational toys, and learning baby gifts. BUT they need help from moms like me to help pick the toys.

Several weeks ago they sent us an Activity Bus from Plan Toys, a company that makes eco-friendly, wooden toys for the Four Silly Sisters to review. Here is the deal on this toy…

Since it's arrival I've watched as all 3 of the almost 3 year olds here have picked it up to play several times a day. It seems to be a pretty fun addition to their toy collection. They drive it from one doll house to the other, and then open it to play with the little school house inside. It is durable and made from quality materials. They love setting up all the desks in rows and playing with the 2 little people that were included. While it isn't something that I would have thought to purchase on my own, it appears to be a big hit with my crew. Who knew?? Well, I guess that's what ebeanstalk is for, right?

If you are stumped as to what toys to look for and purchase for grand children, nieces, nephews, friends children, or even your own, check out ebeanstalk where you'll find lots of age appropriate options.

Religion Saves: Book Review

2009-07-15T23:56:00.004-04:00

After reading no non-fiction aside from child rearing books for nearly a year, I eagerly volunteered to read Mark Driscoll's latest book, Religion Saves and Nine Other Misconceptions. I was intrigued by the title and even more so by the concept behind the book. Based on Corinthians 1 and the series of questions that the Corinthians asked Paul, Driscoll set out to determine the most controversial questions among visitors to his church. To that end, Driscoll took a poll via his Mars Hill Church website and received 893 questions and over 300,000 votes to determine the top 9 questions people have regarding Christianity.

Driscoll gives tons of biblical quotes and lots of personal insights and thoughts on each of the following issues: birth control, humor, predestination, grace, sexual sin, faith and works, dating, the emerging church, and the regulative principle, after a brief introductory chapter debunking the idea that religion is what saves us.

While not the type of book I would probably have ever picked up on my own, it is full of convicting, encouraging, and even shocking information that could possibly be helpful to have around should someone ever come to me with any of these tough questions. Having read through it, I believe I'll eventually go online and watch the sermons that each of the chapters was based on. You can go *here* to read or listen to an excerpt from the book.

About the author from the website:

Mark Driscoll is the founding pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, one of the fastest-growing churches in America. He is president of the Acts 29 Church Planting Network and is the author of several books, including Vintage Jesus.

Pastor Mark preaches on Sunday, trains pastors, and writes curriculum. Mark is married to his high school sweetheart, Grace, and they enjoy raising their three sons and two daughters. More about Mark here!

Driscoll is both biblically sound and culturally relevant.... a difficult balance to manage.

The schedule for the blog tour is available *here* in case you'd like to read what others have to say about this book.

Leslie Patricelli Children's Books

2009-04-05T22:01:00.005-04:00

Many books already adorn our children's bookshelves, but we received a couple of very cute additions last week for review from Team Mom. Leslie Patricelli is a wonderful children's book author, but I believe her illustrations and ingenuity are the reason my girls enjoy her books so much.

Baby Happy Baby Sad is one of the few books about her cute bald baby character that we didn't already own. In this series of books the happy little baby explores many different types of contrasts including: No No No Yes, Yummy Yucky, Big Little, and Quiet Loud. These books are great for babies and younger toddlers! I enjoyed sharing these books with my girls when they were younger because the seemed to really love the simple concepts and brilliant illustrations.

We also got to preview a copy of Higher! Higher! which is brand new on the shelves now and great for the older toddler/ preschool age group. All the girls are enjoying this ingenious picture book. With few words and awesome illustrations, the girls are able to "read" it themselves. Creativity is huge here with the Four Silly Sisters, and this book enforces the idea that there is no limit to the possibilities of a child's imagination.

All these very cute books are available through Candlewick Press. Thank you Team Mom and Leslie Patricelli... the Four Silly Sisters really love adding to their reading collection with excellent quality books!

Skin MD Natural

2009-02-28T22:05:00.004-05:00

Wow, in an effort to clear my desk and mind of all distractions before I go to the airport to pick up Scott in the morning, I ran across the info for a review that I almost let slip through the cracks. The product is a really great shielding lotion called Skin MD Natural. I've been using it for the past month or so, and here are some of my thoughts:

I love that I can use it for both my face and body and the fact that it contains SPF 15. It's small 4oz bottle is easily transported for use on the go. I remember being surprised by how far a little bit really does go when I first started using it. While the product's website and many other reviewers claim that it has no smell, I found that there was a slight sunscreen scent when first applied, but it goes away pretty quickly. In addition, it goes on smooth and doesn't leave your skin feeling greasy or weighed down like some lotions do. Best of all, it really works!! My skin is not nearly as dry and damaged as it usually is this time of year.

There is quite a bit of good information on the company's website regarding the difference in moisturizing lotion and shielding lotions; I won't reiterate all that here. I do suggest, however, if you have dry, winter ravaged skin like me and you are looking for a natural skin care product that really works, you go to Skin MD and check it out!

Qlubb Review

2009-01-30T22:40:00.003-05:00

Team Mom asked me to try out this new online service for planning and managing real life groups called Qlubb. Tonight I finally had a chance to sit down and look it over. I decided that I would use the service to set up an online site for my weeknight Bible study group. We are a varied group of women, some of whom work outside the house, some married, some moms, and some not. Email is usually the communication tool that we use, but that can be tedious and can clog up an inbox on an especially busy day.

With Qlubb you can:
Eliminate back and forth emails
Avoid reminding (nagging?) everyone about events and responsibilities
Easily delegate tasks to group members
Create a secure website for your group

I found the Qlubb.com site very easy to maneuver. In no time I had created a site for us, made a calendar with our upcoming events (including a trip to the beach... woohoo), asked for volunteers to lead the next session, and invited all the other ladies to join our Qlubb group.

I think Qlubb.com will truly simplify things for me as the group leader and person generally in charge of drafting and keeping up with the email strings before. I am eager to hear how the other gals enjoy the new system, and I'm excited about the fact that the site belongs to all the group members and we're all free to make changes as needed there.

Thanks Team Mom for the opportunity to test drive something on the web that may just simplify my life!

Mr. Random Says...

2009-01-29T20:06:00.002-05:00

Commenter #3 penguinmom is our winner. Please email me at foursillysisters (at) gmail (dot) com by 5 pm Friday the 30th with your mailing address to claim your prize. Otherwise I will ask Mr. Random to pick again! Thanks for playing and enjoy reading National Security Mom.

National Security Mom Book Review and Giveaway

2009-01-24T21:32:00.005-05:00

Before strep throat descended on our house, I was almost finished reading a fabulous book by Gina M. Bennett. Now that the meds have kicked in and I no longer feel like I am dying by strep throat, I was able to finish it tonight. Thank you to the folks at Mom Select and Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing for the opportunity to read, review, and give away a copy of National Security Mom.

I was intrigued by the title, and wondered really how interested I would be in anything regarding National Security. In fact, I only agreed to review so that I could have something new to discuss with my husband who is currently serving in Iraq.... he knows a thing or two about National security. On the other hand, I am someone who admittedly knows very little about current events, much less National Security and foreign policy. I can say that this book was incredibly easy to read and understand even for someone like me. I think it will appeal to all moms.

Here's the book's description from their website:

"How Do We Solve Our National Security Challenges? In the wake of the war on terrorism, it seems today’s parents are constantly bombarded with news of the latest threats and messages of fear. But how do we achieve national security or even protect our children when we feel so insecure?
National Security Mom, by 20-year veteran of the intelligence community and mother of five, Gina Bennett, answers this burning question through an insider perspective on national security and a unique “soft” approach to achieving it.National Security Mom examines how many of the age-old, practical lessons we teach our children, such as “clean up your mess,” “tell the truth” and “don’t give in to a bully,” apply to the covert intelligence approach to national security. Through these comparisons, Bennett empowers America’s parents to engage with confidence in the national security debate and reinforces the fact—true and lasting security is a nationwide effort that begins at home."

In her book, Bennett ultimately challenges us as parents to engage in action...whether just in the ways we teach our children at home or through the PTA, Home Owners Association, Mayor, City Council, etc, and teach our children to be good citizens thereby preparing them to be our nation's leaders.

The publishers have offered a hardcover copy of the book National Security Mom to one reader here. Just leave a comment by noon EST on Thursday January 29th on this post. Be sure I can reach you via email in case you are the winner. The book will ship out to the winner the first week of February. Good luck!

No-Cry Nap Solutions.... Winner

2009-01-21T22:28:00.000-05:00

The No-Cry Nap Solution is such a great book that I wish I could give copy to each of you who commented.... it's that good, really!

However, I only have one copy for one winner, and courtesy of Random Integer Generator that winner is:

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:9
Timestamp: 2009-01-22 03:27:44 UTC

Comment number 9 belongs to my friend and fellow baby buncher Lindsey! Her kiddos will be about a year apart once the new little gal arrives. Her oldest is not quite 9 months yet. It is of the utmost importance that big brother learn to be a great napper!

I am thrilled that Lindsey will now have the chance to read this awesome book and hopefully get some great ideas to help Luke become a champion napper before little Miss Nora is born. Congratulations Lindsey!

***Edited to add- There is something weird going on with Blogger and the time stamp. The time is now 10:50pm on my computer (and watch), but the time stamp for blogger says 7:28. I don't know what's up, but I just wanted to clarify that I did wait until 10pm to stop comments and go to random.org for our winner! Sorry for any confusion. Anybody else noticing weird things with Blogger tonight?

No Naps, No More- No-Cry Nap Solutions Review and Giveaway

2009-01-16T23:16:00.000-05:00

It's no secret on our family blog that the trio has not been napping well. In fact, I'd done nothing productive during the daylight hours for the past, oh two weeks, I'd say because of the fact that I was exhausted. It's not that they weren't sleeping at night, it's just the incredible energy zapping affect that their constant whining, crying, and tearing the house down like little cyclones between the hours of their supposed "rest time" and bed time was having on me.

We used to have a great schedule. The girls would all four go to bed between 7 and 8 pm and sleep until around 7:30am. Just before Christmas everyone got sick, and good sleeping was a thing of the past! Then after they recovered we still had the crazy holiday hours to contend with, and then weeks after said holidays we had still not quite gotten our groove back.

My typical MO for fixing things where the girls are concerned is to read everything I can get my hands on and then to meld all the information into a plan that I think will work for us. After simply reading Elizabeth Pantley's newest book, the no-cry nap solution, I had enough ideas and resolve to put down the books and get to work, already.

Hers is not a book full of puffed up "you have to do this or else...", but instead a gentle, real-life mother of 4, who knows from reality that what works for one kid or family may or may not work for another. I really appreciate the fact that she encourages people to choose some of the suggestions to begin working with, stick to them for a while, and then evaluate if it is working FOR YOUR FAMILY. If not, try something else. It's that simple.

In a sleep deprived parental state, it is often easy to overlook basic things that might be keeping kids from sleeping, so to have this book as a resource has been very handy. Since Ella was an infant I've been reading everything I could about children and sleep. A great deal of this info has not exactly been intuitive for me.... many of the principles I've had to see happening to believe. For example, when my girls go to be later than they should, they almost always wake up even earlier than normal. Does this make sense to me? No. Is that how it always happens here? Yes. And then there's the overtired= can't get themselves to sleep because they are too tired scenario. I would never have believed either of these had I not lived them first hand. Re-reading some of the basics about children and their sleep requirements was all the encouragement I needed to forge ahead and fix my current problem: Three two year olds in the house and not one of them was napping.

I was able to use the chapter on Nap Resisters- children who need a nap but won't take one, and discover why they girls weren't napping , make a plan with the suggestions provided, and then follow through until they are now all three napping again! Nothing short of a miracle if you ask me. I hesitate to even type it for fear of jinxing myself, but today was day 3 of a good 2 hour afternoon nap for Maggie, Kate, and Sarah.

If, like me, you are struggling with one (or three) two year olds who are prematurely trying to give up naps, or even if you just have children and want easy to read, good information about their general sleep requirements, I highly recommend Elizabeth Pantley's No Cry books. You can buy them online at amazon and Barnes and Noble.

...... and because I got so many comments and emails from commiserating moms of multiples when I began mentioning our nap woes, I asked for an extra copy of this book to give away to one of you lucky readers. Just leave me a comment on this post telling me a little bit about your successes or failures with getting your kiddos to sleep if you want to enter. I'll let random.org choose from among the entries at around 10pm on Wednesday the 21st. Be sure to leave a valid email address in case random.org selects you. The winner will receive an autographed copy of the No-Cry Nap Solution directly from Elizabeth Pantley.

Sweet dreams,

We Have a Winner

2009-01-02T19:24:00.000-05:00

Wow, I win the most terrible blogger award over here... it's been 2 weeks now since I posted this contest, and I almost forgot to go to Random.org to pick the winner today!?!?

I said, almost...

The winner of the $10 Bear Bucks Gift Card is commenter number 9, Janelle.

Search RANDOM.ORG
True Random Number Service
Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:9
Timestamp: 2009-01-03 00:22:37 UTC

Janelle, please email me at foursillysisters *at* gmail *dot* com with your mailing address so I can get your prize to you. I realize that you have email in your blogger profile, but I'm having some technical difficulties.

Build-A-Bear Workshop and a Giveaway

2008-12-17T21:19:00.000-05:00

Thanks to BSM Media and Build-A-Bear Workshop we received this adorable guy today for review.

His name is Hal Moose, and do the girls ever love him! His cute little antlers light up when you press his hand. They took turns carrying him around and lovin' on him while I checked out this book "Holly and Hal Moose: Our Uplifting Christmas Adventure" which was included as well.

It is an adorable little 10 chapter book about a sibling duo who work together to save Christmas and their friendship in time for Santa to make his famous flight. The storybook is FREE when you purchase both Holly and Hal Moose ($12 each), or it is sold separately for $15.99. Ella and I will certainly enjoy reading this book together in the days to come!

In addition to Holly and Hal Moose, there are more than 30 furry friends to make at Build-A-Bear Workshop this holiday season. Everything from bears, turtles, monkeys, bunnies, dogs, and cats.... there's a perfect animal for everyone on your gift list. The fun doesn't end when you leave the store because all the furry little friends come with a special code that can be used to bring them to life online in buildabearville.com, the Build-A-Bear Workshop's virtual world.

We also received a $10 Bear Bucks gift card for Build-A-Bear Workshops with our review materials to give away to one lucky blog reader.

First things first, go check out Build-A-Bear Workshop then come back here and leave a comment telling me what you would do with the $10 Bear Bucks if you win. Leave your comments here by Friday January 2, 2009 for a chance to win. Wow, 2009 already?!? You can earn extra entries by subscribing to this blog and/or posting about this giveaway on your own blog with a link back here. Just be sure to leave an additional comment for each extra entry. Be sure and include a valid email address.

Parents Toys for the Holidays

2008-12-17T20:19:00.000-05:00

Every toddler parent knows the disappointment of having a box be more exciting than the actual gift inside. Just in case you haven't completed your Christmas shopping and have toddlers and preschoolers on your list, Parents Toys are sure to get them excited about what's in the box for a change.

We received the Parents Bristle Blocks Spinners two weeks ago for review from Team Mom, and this was one of those toys that the girls all loved immediately. These are the newest addition to the popular Bristle Blocks collection. According to the press release, "Spinners is an action-packed, 57- piece building set filled with colorful, easy to connect blocks, as well as wheels, axles, and quirky character faces to make creations come alive! Even a beginning builder will feel a great sense of accomplishment, which will grow as his dexterity improves and the complexity of his creations increases, yielding everything from rolling roadsters to twirling merry-go-rounds to propeller-spinning airplane- the creative options are endless. These non-toxic, washable blocks are sure to provide hours of stimulating play."

In our house these blocks have already provided hours of enjoyment. When we first opened the package, we set out together to construct the roadster. It was finished, with my help, in no time. Then the girls spent the next 20 minutes taking turns rolling it back and forth around the living room. Often the car was crushed in the "gentle" transition from one child to another in the sharing process, but that just meant they had to work together to get the wheels back on and make it roll again.

Now that we've had our set for a while, they have all individually constructed completely different creations using these blocks. As a mom, I love that I am able to literally watch their minds expand with the increasing complexity of each new creation!

The philosophy for the Parents Brand Toys is this: When a toy does less, the child does more. I couldn't agree more! You can find these at most Target stores. I actually searched around for a cousin who was hoping to find some of these exact same blocks for her 2 year old and found them at Costco.

Happy Shopping!

Word World

2008-12-17T19:44:00.000-05:00

Since the girls have recently started to give up their one and only nap during the day, I have been searching for something for them to do quietly for a little while that won't lend to destruction so that I can have a few minutes during the afternoon for essentials like laundry, prepping dinner, blogging, you know, just the essentials... he, he. Time in their room doesn't work well because they seem to get into too much trouble, but if I contain them in the living room with gates I can keep my ears and eyes on them much better.

I was thrilled to come across the PBS show WordWorld at around 6am one morning, and tonight after reading about it over at An Island Review I checked the viewing times and discovered that it comes on at 2pm here as well. Perhaps I'll have the girls watch a little educational programming at the peak of their fussiness in the afternoons from now on!! If you have toddlers and preschoolers in the house you might want to check it out as well.

I Can Do That!!

2008-12-09T23:57:00.000-05:00

Sometime last month the folks at I Can Do That Games sent us a copy of their Cat In the Hat, I Can Do That game for review.

The games are designed to get kids up and moving: laughing, playing, jumping, singing, and I can attest to the fact that they do exactly that!

I have to giggle every time we attempt to play because this game expertly shows the differences between our two sets of twins *wink, wink*. Apparently ours is a house divided. In the one camp we have our true identicals, Maggie and Kate, who carefully select one red, blue, and yellow card each and then give each other high fives after flawlessly following instructions to the best of their abilities until the completion of their required tasks as read by mom.

Then over in the other camp we have our identicals that were separated by 17 months, Ella and Sarah. These two play Cat in the Hat, I Can Do That 'my way or the highway style'. Both are obstinate about reading their own cards... which neither of them can do yet, and they want to make up the rules and their given objectives to suit themselves every single time.

I suppose technically Maggie, Kate, and Sarah are all a little too young to fully enjoy this game just yet, but I can tell that personality of the child makes a huge difference in whether they will enjoy it at a younger age or not.... clearly Maggie and Kate are there already and Ella and Sarah may never be!?!

As a mom, I love this game. The players start by drawing 3 cards and then following the instructions to complete the given task. The cards are both numbered 1,2,& 3 as well as color coded, so kids that don't know their numbers yet can choose based on the colors. The materials all the props are made of have withstood a great deal of "kid testing" from the girls... what with Ella and Sarah's penchant for making it up as they go along and all and getting angry when things aren't going their way. The game has a very simple concept, yet one that builds confidence in the young players (especially those who try to follow the game rules) and their ability to honestly say "I Can Do That!".

We give this game lots of little thumbs up!

Delgo: Movie Review

2008-12-09T22:54:00.000-05:00

Atlanta based Fathom Studios' very first independently produced and distributed movie Delgo will be out in theaters in just a few short days on December 12th. I am painfully not "in the know" regarding exactly what else is in theaters this holiday season, but after viewing the trailer and reading up on the positive message this film contains, I have to say I'd love to check it out. The voice cast alone is enough to peak my interest. It includes: Freddie Prinze, Jr. (Delgo), Jennifer Love Hewitt (Princess Kyla), Anne Bancroft (exiled Empress Sedessa) as well as Chris Kattan (Filo), Val Kilmer (Bogardus), Lou Gossett Jr. (Nohrin King), Michael Clarke Duncan (Lockni Stonesage Council), Kelly Ripa (Kurrin), Burt Reynolds (Delgo’s Father) and Sally Kellerman (Narrator).

From the press release, "Fast-paced action and adventure, a mystical land, an unlikely hero, a princess, and a message of acceptance between different cultures make Delgo the perfect family-friendly movie this holiday season."

The image above was provided by Team Mom and Delgo.

Secret Mountain Books

2008-11-17T23:47:00.000-05:00

Reading is a part of our bedtime ritual every nigh. So I really love getting new children's books in the mail to review! It is admittedly tough to break in a new book with my little crowd though. They have hundreds of favorites among the four of them, but each book in the favorite class has earned that spot through multiple (read: gazillions of) readings.

When we opened The Secret Mountain collection of books and CDs, including Dream Songs Night Songs: From Belgium to Brazil, A Duck in New York City, and Down at the Sea Hotel, I was anxious to see how they would be received.

We were not big fans of the Dream Songs Night Songs book. The illustrations and words to the story were a bit abstract for a kids' book, I thought. However, Down at the Sea Hotel proved to be a much better bedtime book selection for us. There are many beautiful lullabies on the cd. We've enjoyed listening to this one during afternoon rest times as well as at bedtime.

Our favorite of the set by far was the multiple award winning, A Duck in New York City. This quirky little duck is a match for the Little Red Engine with his excellent "Yes I Can" attitude in his escapade from the prairie to the big apple. The illustrations are done in bold, eye-catching colors and the accompanying cd includes 12 super silly kid songs... Broadway style. The girls love them, and I'm sure they will be singing them all non-stop as soon as they have the words memorized. This book is well on it's way into the favorite category around here.

According to their website: "The Secret Mountain is dedicated to the creation of children’s books, videos and audio recordings of the highest quality. Our main focus is to produce and publish stories and music that encompass the talents of songwriters, storytellers, singers, illustrators and animation artists alike." I certainly think they are hitting the mark!

So tell me, what are some of your favorite bedtime stories to read with your children... and do your kiddos enjoy new books instantly or, like mine, do they need a little bit of warm up time?

The Debut

2008-11-03T21:41:00.001-05:00

I have been getting lots of requests for the girls and I to try out products and review them on the blog lately. Because I hope to make our family blog into scrapbooks for the girls one day soon ~~and because our sweet extended family and friends far away could likely care less about the reviews~~, I am going to start posting all our reviews over here, all nice and consolidated. This way if someone is looking for updates on the four sweet and super silly sisters they can find them over there, and if someone is looking for 'what those same silly girls (and their mom) think about a particular product' then they can find those posts here. Hope this doesn't cause too much confusion for me, but rest assured, if it does I'll drop it like a hot potato!