This is a paid review, written by the Daddy Creature of the Duck Family. If you would like him to review your site, head on over to ReviewMe, sign up and find Lil’ Duck Duck’s listing to request a review.

I would imagine that most of us would like to have all the information we could possibly have about the day care providers in our area in one concise location. The task of flipping through the phone book online or google searching and hoping you get the best seems rather daunting. So, when a site comes along that is adopted by a fast growing community, it makes your life that much easier.


When I was asked to do this review, I was afraid it might be a rather slip-shod search engine with incomplete information. (more…)

Remember these granola bars?? We used to eat them all the time growing up. Well, now Nature Valley has a cereal that tastes just like them - big enough bits to use as a finger food snack for the little one, but small enough to eat with a spoon. Both Lil’ Duck and I enjoyed the box they sent us and I enjoyed the fact that the larger chunks were MUCH easier to clean up than little bits of regular granola ;).

Even before the little one was born, I’ve wanted a bracelet or necklace with his name and my husband’s name on it, something to wear all the time and treasure, you know? I’d looked at a lot of different places, but everything was either just huge and gaudy, not well-made, or way too expensive. Finally, now that my little guy is 2 1/2, I found the perfect necklace.

Alli from Alli’s Originals handcrafted a delicate piece just for me from her Darling Disc design in her Princess Charming Collection - one disc has my husband’s name, another has the little one’s name, and the middle one has a heart on it. The 16″ chain can be worn at different lengths & is very delicate, just what I wanted. It’s quite small, not gaudy at all - here is a photo of the necklace with my cell phone for reference. (more…)

When we reviewed the Leapfrog Little Leaps system back in September, we did not have any technical issues with pairing the controller to our Playstation 2, or with the games running. The only issues we had were with some of the actual game discs. You can read our update on the Little Leaps system for more information. However, given the number of people who contact me about their issues with the Little Leaps system, here are two easy ways to get customer support from Leapfrog:

1. Read their troubleshooting questions & answers to see if your problem is addressed there - if not, then…
2. Go to the support tab on the bottom of the main Leapfrog page, then click on Ask A Question, then find the Little Leaps in the drop down product listing.

Oh yes. After my brand-new Christmas laptop (a MacBook Pro with my fancy wireless mouse), which plays the Cars movie with a beautiful picture, regardless of where we might travel, Lil’ Duck has decided that I am very cool indeed. BUT, if I had this pink Nintendo DS which the Crazy Hip Blog Mamas are giving away, the handheld button-pushing goodness would just send me right over the edge into “coolest mom ever” land.

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For all you last minute shoppers - Amazon has their Great Deals under $50 list out, they still have a lot of other products in stock as well.

We had the chance to try out the new Philips Norelco Bodygroom this week and Amazon still has it in stock for only $29.99! Daddy Creature’s help was enlisted as this product is mainly meant for men’s use - he was thrilled to finally get to try one of the cool products (I usually hog the product review things ;)). (more…)

Since it’s the holiday season and many people are visiting me regarding my previous review of the Leapfrog Little Leaps system, I wanted to post a little update on how the Leapfrog system has held up over the past three months.

The controller has taken a beating, but nothing has chipped, broken, or stopped working. I haven’t had to replace the batteries yet, despite his heavy use of the buttons and repeat play of the games. He loves both sides of the controller and actually prefers to play one of the baby games, Play & Move over the toddler game, Leap Ahead (even though he is over 2 years old now).

The DVD’s are, like most, easy to scratch, so some of the games do jump around a little (my little monkey climbs the shelves to get at the DVD’s…. being shoved into a VCR isn’t recommended for any DVD, ahem) but if you lock them up, you’ll be just fine.

I’d definitely encourage you to check it out, especially for younger toddlers/older babies who can benefit from both the baby games and then the toddler games - might be a nice Christmas idea and it’s a nice break from the millions of toys….

Be sure to visit the Blogging Chicks Holiday Recipe Carnival at Another Chance Ranch!

Swiffer is doing a Holiday Home Tour Sweepstakes - you can win a home makeover or some Swiffer products - you can even show off your holiday decorating! This runs through December 30th, so enter soon.

As part of their promotion, they sent us a Carpet Flick for review. It was initially startling to see all the parts come out of the box, but assembling it was reminiscent of my childhood tent camping experiences - locking in the metal parts of the pole for the handle. It took all of a minute to assemble and stick the little cartridge in there, then we were off! It scooped up a few stray Cheerios, but balked at the gingerbread crumbs. After applying a little more force and a few extra swipes, it eventually relented. (more…)