On April 30 2009, Design Cares benefit for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital will present a runway show and auction of designer gowns by internationally renowned designers, including:

Adrienne Landau, Carolina Herrera, Catherine Malandrino, Chado Ralph Rucci, Christian V. Siriano, Diane Von Furstenberg, John Galliano, Maggie Norris Couture, Marc Jacobs Collection, Matthew Williamson, Nicole Miller, Vera Wang, Versace and Yigal Azrouel, to name a few.

All the gowns featured on the Design Cares runway will be auctioned off at the event and online with all proceeds going to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, one of the world’s leading research and treatment centers for pediatric cancer.

To reserve your tickets/VIP tables to this event,
please register online at www.stjude.org/designcares

The story of the good Samaritan is a family favorite so I knew I was going to enjoy this African twist!  I didn’t mention anything before I sat down to read Sikulu & Harambe to the girls, I LOVE when they get things themselves.  Boy 2001 was in the room playing with legos and when I started reading I could see a sense of knowing rush over him.  He hustled over to see the pictures.

After reading the story we talked about it for a while, the kids loved that the heroes were animals, especially the spider with the bangles!  This is a story that gently gets kids thinking about service to other people.  It’s not preachy but gets the point across!  Most kids know what it feels like to need help and not get it so they can immediately relate to the lady’s unanswered cries.

There are wonderful elements of African culture and life weaved into the story.  Girl2004 was fascinated that people do their laundry in the river and at the same time they play hide-and-seek!  Books are a great way to take your kids to a far away land… Sikulu and Harambe are sure to become favorites so be sure to check out the plush animals available at the website.  The illustrations and writing, simply put, is excellent!  The drawings are gentle and the story is simple but powerful making it a great choice for all children.

Sikulu and Harambe has great info for kids!  Topics include:

• Zambia and Africa more generally
• animals like elephants, spiders, hippopatamus, yellow-billed stork
• Ku-omboka ceremony
• Lozi people
• Zambezi River

Sikulu & Harambe by Kunle Oguneye.  Illustrations by Bruce McCorkindale.

I have a really cute vid of girl2006 putting this book on our bookshelves! I need to get it on the web, sooo cute.  She loves putting her books on her shelf, sometimes if she’s lost interest in a book while I’m reading she’ll try to close it in my hands to put it away.  I guess it’s a habit only a mother could find cute.  I should note that she does not do that when I’m reading Sikulu and Harambe, she likes me to define all the words in the glossary!

Enjoy this book with the special children in your life.

Every mom I know looks around her home some days and thinks of a three ring circus.  The daring stunts, costumes and animal tricks are just part of it. 

Still, with all of that, the actual circus is a MUST do event for most families and when i think of the circus, I think of Ringling Bros.  Every good family field trip of course starts with gauging children’s interest.  Girl2006 had some fun looking through a Ringling Bros.  picture book.  It’s looks like a souvenir program but it reads like a story which I really like!

The interest is there but can you afford it?  If money has held you back from attending The Greatest Show On Earth, don’t let it!  This may be the best time ever to visit the circus.  We have put off our circus aspirations in the past because of the price tag!  Take your family to the circus for only $44!  That is true value, I just wish there was a show near me!  $44 includes the All Access Pre-show, a fun opportunity to meet circus performers and dress up in clown costumes, which happens one hour before each performance.

The Ringling Bros. website has a lot of good information and will get your kids in the mood to go to the circus!  Visit www.ticketmaster.com to use the MOM promo code. 

Here’s a good description of the offers:

MOM code Offer #1:

Get 4 tickets for just $44 by entering the code “MOM” at select ticketing channels**. Offer good on all performances, minimum purchase of 4 tickets required; additional tickets above 4 can be purchased at $11 each. Offer not valid on Circus Celebrity Seating, Front Row and VIP seating or combinable with other offers.  Other Restrictions May Apply.

MOM code Offer #2:

A select amount of Front Row and VIP seats have been reserved for you to buy before they go on sale to the public – just enter the code “MOM” when purchasing those seats.

Dates and cities where families can use the national MOM discount code this spring are as follows:

• Newark/East Rutherford/Uniondale/NYC
  Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey® presents ZING ZANG ZOOM
  March 5 – April 13
  Offer not valid on performances from April 10 – 13 at Madison Square Garden
• Washington D.C./ Fairfax, VA/ Baltimore, MD
  Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey® proudly presents Over The Top
  March 18-April 19
• Philadelphia
  Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey® presents ZING ZANG ZOOM
  May 13-May 25
• Phoenix
  Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey® presents ZING ZANG ZOOM
  June 24-June 28
• Houston
  Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey® proudly presents Over The Top
  July 15-July 26
• Anaheim/LA/Ontario
  Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey® presents ZING ZANG ZOOM
  July 8-August 2
• San Francisco 
  Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey® presents ZING ZANG ZOOM
  August 12-August 23
• Dallas/Ft Worth
  Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey® proudly presents Over The Top
  July 29-August 16
• Sacramento
  Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey® presents ZING ZANG ZOOM
  August 27-August 30
• Kansas City
  Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey® proudly presents Over The Top
  September 16-September 20

We had some fun dressing up with our clown noses! Girl2006 has officially adopted the Ringling Bros. book, she will NOT put it down!

Girl 2004:  Hey! Let’s Join the Circus!

Share your vision with EyeBuyDirect!  Visit www.eyebuydirect.com and choose your winning frames!  Don’t wear glasses?  enter anyway, you can always buy for someone else or choose “fashion” which will outfit your new glasses with blank lenses.

WIN

Visit www.eyebuydirect.com choose frames and describe what you like about them.  For a second entry upload your photo and try on glasses or review someone already on the “Wall of Fame”.

I’ll choose a winner on Friday March 6, 2009 at midnight.  Fulfillment will be handled by the sponsor.  Good luck!

Read about my experience with Eye Buy Direct…

No gimmicks, no complications!  The company with a vision is bringing affordable eye glasses to the masses! Great low prices and top notch service.

The FRN recently organized a review opportunity, we didn’t get any special treatment just a hands on experience.  The only thing you need to do offline is get an eyeglass prescription and be sure to ask for your pupillary distance! 

The ordering process is very simple and you will not believe the prices!  Prescription glasses start at only $7.99 and the most expensive is $49.95.  That price includes single vision lenses!  it’s unbelievable but true, there is an additional fee for bifocal or progressive lenses but I’m sure you’ll agree that it’s still a bargain.

I’m totally angry that I spent $140 on the cheapest glasses at my local eye doctor when EyeBuyDirect has such a great deal on stylish glasses!

I am very happy with the Merlin glasses I chose from the Rimless line.  I was feeling Palin-esque when I got them!  They are in fact ‘rimless’ with green sides and crystals, super cute as you can see.  

The total for the order was $75!  if you wear prescription glasses (or have ever PAID for them) you know what a tremendous bargain that is.  The $74 included the frames, Thin and Lite lenses and anti-scratch which I desperately need! 

In addition, you get a hard case and cloth.  Be sure to plan ahead and order your glasses before you’ll need them as it took about 10 days to create my glasses and then there was shipping time.  This was such a good experience, people keep asking me about my new glasses and are stunned by the low price!

Stay tuned for pictures!! Do you want to win a pair of prescription glasses from EyeBuyDirect?

My kids LOVE cereal morning noon and night and I always wonder if they’re getting all the vitamins and minerals they need.  It seems I can rest just a little bit easier with General Mills Big G kid cereals in my life. 

The classic cereals we all grew up with have evolved into calcium and vitamin D powerhouses!  I could try to get my kids to eat tofu or more almonds but it’s much easier to sneak some good stuff into kid friendly fortified cereal!  Cereal is the perfect food for kids because you can eat most kinds with milk or dry or just use it as a topping for yogurt or even ice-cream. And by the way, I was just informed

It’s important to get the kids in your life plenty of chances to get essential nutrients they need.  About 75% of kids don’t get the recommended levels and boneloss can start in the late teens.  I feel even more urgently the need to get my kids eating as many whole foods as possible. 

The kids and dear husband devoured the entire box of Lucky Charms so fast I didn’t even get a bowl!  In fairness this was Monday, after a cold night shivering and no way to make a hot breakfast It really brightened up their morning.  I was so looking forward to trying the new hourglass marshmallow charm!  In the past I would have worried about there being too much sugar and calories but now I know to look for the Big G cereal.  If you’re not sure, be sure to look for the strip at the top of the box that guarantees that the cereal is made with Whole Grains and has the nutrition highlights based on the recommended daily values. 

As mom and head shopper for the family this is an invaluable asset in the supermarket where I am stressed and under pressure.  I see the calories, saturated fat, sodium, sugars, calcium and vitamin D at a glance. 

Grow up Strong with Big Kid Cereals, remember to give your kids three servings of whole grains per day!  

Visit http://growupstrong.com for recipe ideas, money-saving coupons and more information that will keep you in the know as your kids grow.

Thanks to the Mom Bloggers Club for this great review opportunity.

**sorry I’m having issues loading my pictures** stay tuned…

I’ve been absent from the blog since losing power Sunday!  it wasn’t much of a storm but enough to give us a taste of living without electricity, water or heat for two days!!  All of that really messed up my sleep cycle as well!  thankfully we’re warm  right now!!

What is the high-energy show that’s all about teamwork, friendship and keeps it all FUN?  Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! of course!

Do you ever make up reverse trivia questions?  I always do, maybe it’s because my dream job would be researching things for the game show, Jeopardy!  or maybe it’s because I live in my head a bit too much.  Anyways…

If the topic of Wuzzleburg does come up on your next best gameshow you’ll be ready after watching A Little Help from My Friends DVD.  Wuzzleburg is a wonderful, caring place where kids learn how to be good citizens.  Surrounding your kids with compassion and caring is a sure fire way to get some of that back in return.  You’ll notice them acting nicely when they meet up with friends from school or playdates or just the old lady talking to them at the supermarket.

I wasn’t suprised to learn that Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! is on almost 40 times a week!  I’ve never seen anything not to like about the show and I know my kids LOVE the show and there is no way to ignore the theme song!  It’s the high energy Wow! song that always gets us moving!!

The kids are especially fond of the A Little Help From Your Friends episode because Wubbzy makes a Doodleberry cake.   This is a great episode to watch if your kids insist on trying to make the cake themselves.  Wubbzy even tosses in whole eggs without cracking them!! this made the kids giggle so hard because the cracking of the eggs is always a stressful point of any baking activity around here.  Girl2004 is eager to see more baking/cooking episodes and marveled at the pink and white product.  There should be a compilation of all the baking episodes out there.

The DVD includes these fab episodes:

• A Little Help From Your Friends
• A Clean Sweep
• Mr. Cool
• Wubbzy in the Middle
• Gidget The Super Robot
• Broken Record
• Widget Gets the Blooey Blues
• Where’s My Wiggle Wrench?

Another point that the kids really like is that Wubbzy, Walden and Widget are best friends.  Often we see best friend duos characterized but my kids rather be “best” friends with a small group without having just one and excluding others.  Do yourself a favor and check out Wubbzy and friends. 

 Thanks to Mom Central for the review opportunity!  enjoy the art inspired by Wubbzy.

If you have pets, you have pet hair!  Even short haired, hypo-allergenic breeds’ can send my husband into a nose tickled frenzy so I do my to keep all surfaces in my house fur free.

The current battlefields are the bed and the big yellow fabric chair.  If I’m in bed blogging, chances are very good you’ll find Smokey leaning on my shoulder.  He’s such a little sweetie!!  Right before bed,  I transfer him to boy2001′s room and hurry back up to use the Pledge Fabric Sweeper on the bed to get all Smokey’s fur. 

He doesn’t shed much BUT with my husband every little thing is noticeable so the Fabric Sweeper has been wonderful.  It’s very easy to use, just use short strokes to trap hair in the two half rollers that pick up and collect the hair — it even picks up my hair! When the Fabric Sweeper is filled with hair just toss it!

This is a very practical item to have wherever you have pet hair build up!  We don’t transport Smokey by car often but this would be wonderful to keep on hand for on the spot clean ups without using electricity.

Find out more about the Pledge Fabric Sweeper for Pet Hair.

WIN

Would YOU like to win a Pledge Fabric Sweeper for yourself?  Just leave a comment on this post and you can WIN.  I’ll limit this one to 5 entries per person for the duration of the contest.

• one “free entry” for a comment
• tweet or blog about this contest linking to www.pajamamom.com
• stumble this page
• put the link www.pajamamom.com on your blogroll
• subscribe to the www.pajamamom.com rss feed (I really need to work on this – I am sooo clueless)

Please make a seperate comment for each entry and link to where I can see the action you took.  I appreciate everyone who promotes!!  Contest ends Friday February 20, 2009 at midnight!  Good luck!

This post was written for Family Review Network as part of a program by SC Johnson, who also supplied the product for review and giveaway.

There’s still time and opportunity to win great prizes from Mom Central! 

Be sure to check out the great Valentine’s Gift Guide!