Tummy Stuffers - A great gift for a 2 year old (sponsored post)

My two year old loves to fill things and dump them out and fill them again... and dump them again... It seems to be a common stage that many two year olds experience.  As Azariah approached his second birthday, we were presented with the opportunity to check out Tummy Stuffers.  I have to admit, I thought they were kind of silly at first.  I also knew that my boys would love them.

Guess what: Azariah (and the other boys) love this alligator! In fact, it was one of the few toys I packed to keep my boys entertained during a youth convention while I worked as a vendor.  This little guy held all of their toys and scrunched up to fit inside their special toy trunk!

The boy's play trunk, ready to go to youth convention.

He gobbled up toys and spit them back out.  He chased little boys around to gobble them up.  He even worked as a hat!

Azariah, wearing the Tummy Stuffer as a hat!

Our alligator was out last week when Azariah's therapist was over to work on speech.  She adored him and used him with Azariah to prompt some words!  I never thought that our Tummy Stuffer would also work for therapy, how excellent!

Whit considers fleeing the scene

While our kitten is not so much a fan of the Tummy Stuffer, I think it's a fantastic gift option for toddlers and preschoolers!  Christmas is coming, who is on your list?  I'm positive that my 3 and 5 year olds would love to have Tummy Stuffers of their own (in fact, they've already told me which ones they wish for)!  Tummy Stuffers sell for $19.99 plus shipping and handling.  13" seat pets come with a free 8" buddy (for a limited time)
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Healthy Family Date: Review

Do you ever go on "Family Dates"?  We love to go out with our boys for fun activities.  They enjoy hiking, playgrounds, shopping (yes, weird boys), library visits, and so many other things that are going on around town.  We love it that they can get excited about healthy, cultural events!

Recently we decided to look for a different kind of healthy date.  The requirements for this "big event" were 1) healthy food (remember we are working on a vegan diet);  2) lots of movement that our 2 and 4 year old could enjoy together with us; and 3) a reasonable price.  You would never believe where we found it.  We found a restaurant with a salad bar and a LOT of fun games and play areas.  The best salad bar in Fort Wayne comes at a cost of about $7 per person for all you can eat (unfortunately there are not discounts for being a young child).

We decided that we would have the amazing salad bar for myself and Mr. Crum and let the boys slack a little on healthy eating, they shared a pizza.  The package for their pizza, drinks, and a handful of tokens was only about $20.  We could easily have shared this package with our whole family of 5 and had enough to eat.  The food was fantastic.  Side note: we ate here about a year ago and did not like the pizza very well at that time.  I think they have improved their formula over the last year.

Health: Chuck E Cheese offers a variety of food options varying from extremely healthy to not so much.  There are reasonably priced choices for the whole family.  They have also just begun offering gluten free pizza and cupcakes nation wide as an option for families who are facing gluten intolerance!  Way to go Chuck E Cheese!

Cassius getting his hand stamped.

Safety: Every person that enters the doors at Chuck E Cheese is given an invisible stamp on the hand.  This special ink glows in a black light to help the gate keepers make sure that all children leave with the adults they came in with.  There are also regular sweeps of the restaurant to keep it clean and free of debris that could be harmful for visitors.  Excellent job on safety!

The big climber/slide.

Entertainment:  Chuck E Cheese has always been high on entertainment, that's their thing.  They offer an excellent variety of activities to keep the whole family going.  Our 2 year old loved the climber & slide.  Our 4 year old loved the rides & games.  We enjoyed bouncing from activity to activity with them and helping them understand how different things worked.  On this visit, our children were not very interested in the show.  They did, however, participate in a costume parade with Chuck E Cheese and dance with him to earn extra prize tickets.

Mr. Crum teaching Manasseh about air hockey.

We happened to show up during "Chucktober", which is celebrated by inviting children to come in costumes and participate in extra ticket giveaway activities.

"Dr." Manasseh dreaming of his future car.

Take Away:  We left Chuck E Cheese with a few photos and a couple of plastic frogs.  More importantly, we left with children that have a fond memory of a great day interacting with their parents.  I LOVE that my boys have those memories.  I think that a few hours at Chuck E Cheese every once in a while is a great way to build some relationship with my boys (and stay healthy while doing it).

Azariah taking his first ride - this one snaps a picture.

Recommendation:  I think that if you're okay with crowds and enjoy high levels of activity, this is a fantastic family date.  The food is amazing (yep, I'm talking about Chuck E Cheese) and the games are a lot of fun.  All games and rides are 1 token (about a quarter each - less depending on how many tokens you buy) and they can promote family togetherness.  Consider taking a trip to Chuck E Cheese to shake off the winter blahs!

THANKS CHUCK E CHEESE FOR A FUN, HEALTHY FAMILY DATE!

***Disclaimer: I did receive a product or products in exchange for this review.  All opinions are my own.***

Family Date Night

We live a fast paced life.  We love to be on the go, always looking for an adventure.  We enjoy loving life.

Sometimes, however - we have to slow down.  Once in a while we have to make it a priority to just enjoy each other's presence at home, as we are.  Saturday night, we took time for a family date night.  Nothing extravagant, just relaxing and playing together.

What do you do to enjoy time as a family?  Here is our date night:

Does it look delicious?  Do you wonder what we're making?  Check back tomorrow to find out about our no cereal breakfast recipe this week.

We baked together - the boys loved making this special breakfast treat.  They were truly part of the creating!  Randy and I enjoy cooking and creating foods together, the boys are always so glad to jump right in when they get the chance!

We played the Noodleboro Manners game.  The boys really enjoyed this.  It was incredibly simple, but forced taking turns, sharing, and using manners.  We have already thought about some amendments we'll make to our game next time.  It took a little longer than the boys were ready for.  

Do you see the bit of white in front of Cassius?  We also shared popcorn - it was a special night!

The highlight of the evening may have been hot chocolate with BIG marshmellows.  Manasseh and I went to the store for our baking supplies and he saw these, he NEEDED to have them.  Daddy fills the mugs much higher than mommy... that's okay though!

We followed the picnic game with Go Fish.  This version of the game is incredibly cute and can be played in a number of ways depending on children's skill level and understanding of numbers and colors.  We went with very simple for our game night.  

Soon we realized that somehow it was 9pm - WAY past bed time.  We brushed teeth, said prayers, and helped the boys get to bed.

What a GREAT fun family date.  You know how much it cost us?  Practically nothing.  We already had everything we needed at home (minus a few baking supplies that I was going to buy anyhow).

We're looking for a great family activity for this week - what is your family's favorite?

Busy Bag Activity #6: SimplyFun Review & Giveaway

Have you heard about SimplyFun Board Games?  If you're a homeschooler, you want to know about them.  If you're a parent, you want to know about them.  If you're an educator, you want to know about them.  Pretty much - you want to know about SimplyFun Games!

This is the "Make Time To Grow" set.  It comes with the 3 games described below.

Not only are these great games, several of them are perfect for busy bags.  My boys are 2 and 3 - still learning how to play "by the rules" - and these games are perfect!

Big N Little is a matching game.  It is designed to help children identify animals and letters that go together.  For a better understanding about how it works, watch the video below.  My boys are using it to learn how to identify animals that go together, they also enjoy looking at the letters and seeing how many they can identify.  It's pretty complicated for Crackers (2), but Monkey (3) picked up on it pretty quickly and enjoys sliding the covers around to find matching animals.

Telling Time is absolutely a favorite for the boys.  They love the number puzzle on the outside of the clock.  They're not quite grasping the part about "telling time", but enjoy trying to identify the numbers while we do the puzzle.

My Monster is cute, I think it's my favorite.  You work to build monsters by placing shapes in the right place.  They've got a good command over shapes already, and Crackers is learning colors.  This game is cute and fun for the boys.  It is smaller than the other games and fits very nicely into my to go bag for appointments!

Each of these games is perfect for some quiet activity time at home, school, the doctor's office - wherever!

SimplyFun has a great variety of board games that are fun and educational.  Make sure you are familiar with their products, what a great way to help your children grow as they master new skills!

SimplyFun products are available online, or through a consultant.  That's right, you can host a SimplyFun party!  Make sure to check their website to find a consultant near you!

Great News: One of my readers will win this set!  Please enter the giveaway using the Rafflecopter form below!