Wisk Lab Experiment: Fighting Protein Stains

September 2, 2010 By Mom Leave a Comment

Wisk is bringing science to stain fighting with an upgraded formula featuring Stain Spectrum™ Technology.  Wisk’s enzymes and cleaning agents target the full range of stains on a molecular level for a powerful clean. We were recently sent a package to conduct an experiment fighting protein stains with the new Wisk Stain Spectrum Technology.  The package included  a protein-stained swatch, dropping pipette, plastic beaker, goggles, beaker, goggles, lab coat and a bottle of Wisk Laundry Detergent. I tried to get TJ excited about being a scientist but all I got was laughing at daddy while he was wearing the goggles and screaming at the thought of wearing them himself.

So… I enlisted the help of JH, my good friends son, once again as my little helper.  He came over after school to my classroom to conduct the experiment.

We all were so pleasantly surprised at how much of the stain the detergent got off in less than a minute (it was hard for the video camera to pick that up well).  I feel very confident that any protein stains that I have will be no match for Wisk.  I have done a couple of loads of laundry with the new formula of Wisk and have been really happy with the cleanliness of my clothes.  Stay tuned in the next few months for more from Wisk.

Buy It:

Wisk is available in August at major retailers nationwide, such as Walmart, Target and Kroger.

* Suggested Retail Price: $5.99 for 50 fl oz. bottles that cleans 32 loads.

Deal Alert:

Visit Wisk.com to download a $1 off coupon and learn more about Wisk Stain Spectrum Technology.

This post is sponsored by Wisk.  I received monetary compensation for my participation, but my review and opinions are my own.
Filed Under: Cleaning, Review

Wordless Wednesday – Classroom Fun

August 31, 2010 By Mom 15 Comments

Almost every Wednesday I post cute and adorable pictures of my family.  This week I am celebrating Back to School with a few pictures of projects we have done at school.  I hope you love our kindergarten work!

Our ocean made mostly by hand-prints.

Hand-print Octopus

Hand-print Crab

Hand-print Fish

Filed Under: Wordless Wednesday Tagged With: Wordless Wednesday

Scrubbing Bubbles Automatic Toilet Bowl Cleaner Review & Giveaway

August 29, 2010 By Mom 64 Comments

I hate cleaning. I am sure that I have mentioned this before.  One of my least favorite jobs to do is to clean the bathroom.  Yuck!  I don’t think this needs much explanation.  Well Scrubbing Bubbles has made my life easier with their enw Automatic Toilet Bowl Cleaner.

The Scrubbing Bubbles Automatic Toilet Bowl Cleaner provides a 360-degree clean, three times a day (no action by you required) by automatically spraying a powerful cleaner inside the toilet bowl, tackling unsightly toilet rings, lime scale and hard water marks. All you have to do is clip it onto the toilet rim.

The first thing you have to do is clean your toilet, the system will maintain a clean toilet but doesn’t initially clean if for you.  Next you put the system together.  It really is a simple process.  You put the bottle of cleaning solution in the holder and clip the sprayer onto the rim of the toilet, the device does all the rest of the work for you.  We have been using the system for the past couple of weeks and I am very happy with the results.  My toilet has stayed clean.  A couple of things to watch out for is that if you have boys you will want to wipe down the sprayer that is attached to the rim every once in a while.  I also didn’t care for the clean chemical smell in my little bathroom, but I am getting used to it and it doesn’t bother me anymore.  This is a great system for someone like me who hates to constantly clean.

Buy It:

Scrubbing Bubbles Automatic Toilet Bowl Cleaner is available for purchase for $26.60 only on Amazon.com and Drugstore.com. You can purchase a two-pack refill of the cleaner for $11.49.

Win It:

One (1) lucky reader will win their own Scrubbing Bubbles Automatic Toilet Bowl Cleaner.

How to Enter:

Visit Scrubbing Bubbles and tell me what additional product you would most like to try from their product line.

(You must complete this entry before completing any of the bonus entries)

Bonus Entries:

Please leave a comment about each entry, include a valid email address or you may contact me directly with your contact information.
Open to US residents only. This giveaway will end at midnight on September 8. Winners will be picked from Random.org. 
Good Luck!

This product review was made possible by Scrubbing Bubbles and Family Review Network. I was not compensated for this review other than a product sample. All opinions are 100% mine.
Filed Under: Cleaning, Giveaways, Review Tagged With: Cleaning, Giveaway, Review

Mom’s Back To School Wish

August 29, 2010 By Mom 1 Comment

I had a lot of fun with TJ this summer.  We got to spend a lot of time together playing and traveling.  He is learning so much so quickly and I got to see him grow up these past few months. Now that school has started and TJ has gone back into daycare, I have such little time to spend with him.  I bring him to daycare and by the time I get back from school and tutoring it is time for him to eat and take his bath and go to bed.

The  weekends have become our time to spend together as a family. The only problem is that we are so busy during the week that the weekends is also our time to clean the house, get groceries and do the million little things that are on our To Do list.  What I wouldn’t give to have a professional janitorial service come in and clean our house during the week so that I can spend more time with TJ and my husband.  My Back to School wish would be to have my house cleaned while I was at school so that I wouldn’t have to take the time to do it myself on the weekends.  Imagine how wonderful it would be to come home from a busy week of work to a house that was already clean!  Ahhh… now that is a beautiful wish.

So, what is your Back to School Wish?  What would you do if you had more time to spend with your family?

This is a sponsored post.  All opinions are 100% mine.
Filed Under: Mommy Moments Tagged With: Mommy Moments

Back To School – Writing Fundamentals by Mead (Giveaway)

August 27, 2010 By Mom 64 Comments

One of the biggest challenges as a kindergarten teacher is teaching handwriting.  If kids don’t come to kindergarten with developed fine motor skills, letter and number formation can be a very frustrating experience.  I am constantly trying to find fun activities that build fine motor skills for my students.  Recently I have been using Mead’s new Writing Fundamental products and have been really impressed with the activities.

Developed in conjunction with a pediatric occupational therapist who specializes in handwriting, the line is divided into four stages based on age and developmental skills. It begins with cutting activities, dot-to-dot projects and coloring exercises that begin eye-hand coordination and fine motor skills. Subsequent products/stages then focus on formal handwriting instruction, including letter formation through tracing and writing practice on paper with raised lines.

So many companies focus on handwriting skills instead of beginning with cutting activities.  I was really glad to see a quality product produced by a quality company to address these fundamental fine-motor skills.  One of my favorite items that I received from Mead is the Snip It booklet.  This booklet of snipping and cutting activities no only helps children master the use of scissors, but results in colorful, creative art projects with little mess. Easy-to-follow cut lines on colored paper make snips go quickly.  Projects get progressively more challenging by adding shapes to pictures and then following a model.  Not only will your child learn how to cut, they will learn about shapes and colors as well.

If you are looking for work for your young child to do at home all of the Mead Writing Fundamentals booklets are developmentally appropriate for the youngest learners.  Young children shouldn’t be expected to sit and do homework for more than 10 minutes at a time and the activities in the booklets are perfect.  I wish I had a class set of these to hand out to everyone of my kindergartners.

Buy It:

You can purchase Writing Fundamentals by Mead products ranging  in price from just $3.99 to $6.99.  Visit meadonline.com for more information.

Win It:

One (1) lucky winner will receive their choice of 5 products from Mead’s Writing Fundamentals.

How to Enter:

Visit Mead and tell me what  product you would most like to try from the Writing Fundamentals product line.

(You must complete this entry before completing any of the bonus entries)

Bonus Entries:

  • Follow me on Twitter and Tweet: Win products from Mead’s Writing Fundamentals product line @AMomsImpression http://wyn.cc/ek4ag  (You may enter daily, just leave a comment with each Tweet’s link)
  • Like A Mom’s Impression on Facebook
  • Blog about this giveaway (Please leave a link to your post)
  • Grab my Button and post it on your blog.
  • Subscribe to A Mom’s Impression by Email (2 Entries, please leave 2 comments: Please remember to confirm your subscription)
  • Comment on any non-giveaway post on A Mom’s Impression. (just tell me what post you commented on)

Please leave a comment about each entry, include a valid email address or you may contact me directly with your contact information.
Open to US residents only. This giveaway will end at midnight on September 10. Winners will be picked from Random.org. 
Good Luck!

This product review was made possible by Mead. I was not compensated for this review other than a product sample. All opinions are 100% mine.
Filed Under: Education, Giveaways, Kids, Review Tagged With: Education, Giveaway, Kids, Review

Moon Dough

August 26, 2010 By Mom Leave a Comment

Finding fun and interesting activities for TJ at home has become quite the task.  He gets bored of his toys easily and so I feel like I am constantly introducing new toys for him to engage in play.  I was recently sent Moon Dough for TJ and I to try out and was pleasantly surprised at how well TJ played with it.

Moon Dough is an out-of-this-world new molding dough that never dries out! Hypo-allergenic and wheat-free, soft and marshmallow-like, Moon Dough does not stick to or stain material. Because Moon Dough never dries out, kids can use it again and again.  Moon Dough is the latest and greatest new molding compound for kids ages 2-4 to sculpt into fun creations they will love to play with.

Moon Dough also offers a variety of enjoyable play sets. We were sent the barn play set with several colors of Moon Dough to test out.  I was a little worried about Moon Dough being to difficult for a 16 month old to play with.  He had to have an adult with him, but he enjoyed playing with the dough.  I helped him stuff the Moon Dough into the top of the barn and pull the handle to create fun little barn animals.  He loved watching the excess dough fall into the cup on the side of the barn (after a while he just decided to fill the cup with the Moon Dough and boycott the animal making part of the barn).  I love the texture and weight of the Moon Dough.  It is easy to work with for young children.  However, I have to say that it is really messy.  I would suggest putting the barn on top of a plastic cloth when you get it out to play.  I originally thought that I would bring the play-set to school, but after seeing the mess you make when you play with it, I have changed my mind.  On the plus side I love how it doesn’t dry out like play dough and it is easier to clean up than play dough (it doesn’t stick to fibers).

Overall, we had a blast playing with the Moon Dough barn play-set.  It was easy for young children to work with.  In order to keep your mommy self sane, be sure to play with the dough on a plastic tablecloth surface for easier clean up.

Buy It:

You can purchase Moon Dough at department stores nationwide.

This website review was written in conjunction with Team Mom. I was not compensated for this post other than a product sample from Moon Dough.  All opinions are 100% mine.
Filed Under: Kids, Review, Toys Tagged With: Kids, Review, Toys

French Toast $15,000 Contest Ending Soon

August 25, 2010 By Mom Leave a Comment

Just a friendly reminder about the French Toast $15,000 contest.  Don’t forget to enter:

Does your child attend a school that requires uniforms?  If  so you are in luck.  French Toast, the leading provider of school uniforms, is hosting a contest $15,000 contest designed to encourage children to share their individuality and what makes them special and unique in their school uniforms.Children are encouraged to send in videos or essays with pictures – showing them clad in their uniforms – that illustrate and describe why they are exceptional. The grand prize is $10,000 in cash, plus a donation of $5,000 in French Toast school uniform vouchers to the winning student’s school.

The contest runs through September 15th.  On November 1st, the top 10 entries will be posted on www.frenchtoast.com for public voting.  The entry with the most votes will be the grand prize winner.  In addition to the grand prize, several other submissions will win runners-up prizes .  Winners will be announced on or around  November 30.

Video submissions – which must include some footage of the student in his/her school uniform – can be a maximum of two minutes in length.  Essays can be a maximum of 300 words and must be accompanied by at least one picture of the child in uniform.  To learn more about the contest and the enter, log on to www.uinuniform.com.

I received a gift card to thank me for taking the time to spread the word about the French Toast Show us the Real ‘U’ in Uniform contest.
Filed Under: Contests

Babyphotographers.com

August 24, 2010 By Mom 1 Comment

One of the most important ways to remember TJ as a child has been taking a lot of pictures.  I have thousands of pictures that I took myself, but once a year I love to get some professional photographs taken.  I feel this is really important and is a priority for my family.  I recently was introduced to a wonderful resource for parents looking for fantastic baby photography close to them. Babyphotographers.com is a tool to find the perfect photographer for your family in your own city.  You simply type in your city and a list of photographers is compiled and you can find their websites and check them out.

Babyphotographers.com is a comprehensive resource for moms and dads seeking information about baby photography.  This highly informational web site helps parents around the world compare and contrast baby photographers to discover the perfect artist for a family’s style, goal and budget.

Babyphotographers.com is launching the “Smile Baby” contest where you have a chance to win $2,000 in free baby photography. A grin, a giggle, even a smirk – we all love to see babies smile. But how do you get YOUR baby to beam? Babyphotographers.com wants to know the lengths you will go to make your baby smile, and we are giving away big prizes! Enter the brand new “How Do You Get YOUR Baby to Smile?” sweepstakes and you can win a $2,000 gift certificate for a photo session with the babyphotographers.com photographer of your choice.

For more information and to enter, visit:  http://www.babyphotographers.com/content/contest.html

This website review was written in conjunction with Team Mom. I was not compensated for this post.  I am entered to win a giftcard for writing this review.  All opinions are 100% mine.
Filed Under: Contests Tagged With: Contests

Wordless Wednesday – My New Game

August 24, 2010 By Mom 16 Comments

TJ and Eli have created a mutually benefiting game, Toss the Cheerios! TJ takes his Munchie Mug full of Cheerios and tosses them to Eli when he is laying down. TJ laughs and laughs at his puppy dog, and Eli gets snacks. They played this game for 10 minutes before I had to stop it (Eli has gained some weight since TJ was born and he is supposed to be on a diet). I love watching these two interact.

Filed Under: Wordless Wednesday Tagged With: Wordless Wednesday

Mr. Potato Head -Toy Story 3 Edition

August 22, 2010 By Mom 4 Comments

One of my favorite characters in the Toy Story movies has to be Mr. Potato Head.  I remember playing with my own Mr. Potato Head when I was a kid.  In my kindergarten class we have a Mrs. Potato Head in our free choice center and the kids love to play with her and give her silly expressions.  I love watching them be creative and laugh when they are playing with her.

Playskool has introduced a Toy Story 3 Edition Mr. Potato Head in three different varieties: Classic, Spud Lightyear and Woody’s Tater Roundup.  TJ was given a Classic Mr. Potato Head that is dressed up like the Mr. Potato Head in the Toy Story movies.  I was a little concerned about TJ being too young for the toy, but he loved playing with him.  He keeps opening up his Tater Tush and putting all the spare parts in there.  He loves to put Mr. Potato Head’s nose where his arms should be.  He looks silly with two noses, and TJ laughs and laughs.  TJ sat and played with his Mr. Potato Head for about 20 minutes straight when it came out of the box.  Since then, it is the first toy he goes to when it is play time.

We have been working with TJ on pointing to his ears, nose and feet.  Having the Mr. Potato Head around is helping reinforce the idea of body parts.  So far TJ can point to his knees, toes and ears (maybe he is still confused with his nose since he is putting noses on Mr. Potato Heads arm holes).

Hasbro & Playskool have been creating toys since the 1940′s.  They create classic toys and update them a needed to keep up with the trends.  I love that TJ is playing with toys that his mom and dad played with when we were his age.  Good toys never go out of style.

Buy It

You can purchase the new Mr. Potato Head Toy Story 3 from Hasbro for the low price of $9.99.

This product review was made possible by Hasbro. I was not compensated for this review other than a product sample. All opinions are 100% mine.
Filed Under: Kids, Review, Toys Tagged With: Kids, Review, Toys
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