Can you guess which one is me?

To catch up, I recently participated in a panel at Show Me The Blog Conference in St. Louis. It’s a new conference on the blog conference circuit, but I think it has great potential. Much like real life, SMTB (as it was known on Twitter) encountered a few bumps in the road, but all in all, I totally would have paid the $40 early bird ticket price for all that I learned. Heck, I probably would have spent the $60 regular (full) ticket price, I really learned that much. I’m just a cheapskate at heart and mom taught me how to get the best deal. It’s hard to break that kind of training.

Show Me The Blog Conference is hoping to grow to a semi-annual event and I’m making plans to make sure I’m there next spring. If you are new to blogging, anywhere close to St. Louis and interested in attending a blog conference, this would definitely be a good “training” conference to see how you like it. Much better than trial by fire at BlogHer like I did. I met a lot of local bloggers and learned a lot of great info from the speakers and panelists.

One major announcement that was announced at SMTB was that I have moved from the ‘job’ of ‘mommy blogger’ to an in-office, 9 to 5, desk job. I recently accepted a position as Social Media Coordinator for a local company that deal with a lot of mommy bloggers. I’d say more here, but let’s just say this company’s owners were on the cutting edge of social media and have used it well to their advantage. Thankfully I’m not building a social media presence, I’m just taking over the reins. Which means, they have a few thousand “fans” on Facebook and I really don’t want to make my work more difficult by connecting too many dots and making it easier for my stalkers to find me. (Is that cryptic enough for you?)

Unfortunately, right after the blog conference, I inadvertently committed the worst blog conference sin EVER, I didn’t post anything. No blogs, nothing. But it’s not my fault, really. My poor little MacBookPro tried to commit computer suicide. Thankfully for me, it was a known issue and Mac (with their excellent customer service, thanks to a class action lawsuit) took care of it. Now my little Mac is back home and ready to serve a few more years with me.

Anyway, all that to say. I’m still here, still blogging and have some plans for fun homemade holiday crafts to share with you. So my question for you is, are you crafting for the holidays? What are you working on? What do you hope to finish before Dec. 24th?

Congratulations to Stefany (#18) for winning the copy of Wii JumpStart Get Moving Family Fitness. Check your e-mail for details!

I was thrilled when asked by Jumpstart to review this item. We like the Jumpstart Wii games and online world. Our Wii titles generally consist of Mario titles, which, let’s be honest, despite the Wii platform are still rather sedentary.

The game arrived at our house on a day my kids had a planned sleepover. I let them pack up the game to share with their friends. To my disappointment, their first reactions were less than ideal. The said repeatedly “It’s too hard!” It took weeks of badgering and finally a bribe to get them to play the game again, with me.

As with all Jumpstart titles, all the kids love creating their own “Jumpeez”, the Jumpstart version of the Mii or avatar on Wii. My children always choose the exotic options like blue or purple skin and pink hair. We started off easy the second time around with running games.

As we took turns through the games (Get Moving is a 2 player game), we did find a few with challenging movements in some of the activities. Basketball was one in particular that was tricky for my younger children. As I do, I used this as a teaching moment for my children. They have seen me doing my DVD workouts, and I pointed out that exercise isn’t always easy, but it’s worth it. This encouraged them and they tried until they were successful on most of the games.

The kids loved choosing the arena they play in. There are 11 different arenas to choose from and a random setting as well. At the beginning of each of the 15 sports challenges, Brooke Burke demonstrates how to use the Wii-mote and nunchuck to complete the task. As with most Wii games, this is a good instruction; but height, placement of Wii receiver, lighting and other factors can affect response times. This is why I believe, my children had much difficulty the first time around. We’ve figured out the quirks to playing Wii in our house and how to get optimum response.

Our kids now love to play Jumpstart Get Moving: Family Fitness, and love to tote it along to friends’ houses as one of their favorite games to share. Our favorite mode of play is using the routines, both the preset and by creating our own with our favorite challenges.

Here’s the list:

Pros:
* Variety of sports: 15 challenges, ranging from easy (running) to challenging (volleyball, basketball, etc.)
* Demonstration of movements before each challenge
* 11 arenas to play in to keep interest
* Countless customization options for your Jumpeez.
* Well timed games, long enough for some good cardio exercise, not too long for kids to give up.
* Children truly get exercise, mine worked up a sweat in just one running game.
* Easy menu navigation for early readers.
* Realistic sports moves for challenges.
* Difficulty settings: Easy, Medium and Hard
* MSRP $29.99 is a great price for a just released Wii game
* Compatible with Wii Fit Board, but not required (we don’t have one)

Cons:
* 2 player game at best (we have a family of 4, we take turns)
* Some moves can be challenging, require parents help and encouragement
* Graphics aren’t quite as smooth as other games.

Our family was very pleased with Jumpstart Get Moving: Family Fitness and are glad to have it as a piece of our family’s new journey to a healthier lifestyle. It’s great for our kids, and will continue to grow with them for quite some time.

I received a complimentary copy of this video game to play and review courtesy of JumpStart. These are my personal opinions, no other compensation was received for this post.

First up:  Sparkpeople.com and the Sparkpeople iPhone App

Sparkpeople is a free website to help you organize, collect and learn all you need to know about getting healthier. There are tons of forums on just about every topic, whether you are looking to lose weight, want to know about a particular exercise program or are adjusting your diet per doctor’s orders. It’s a bit overwhelming at first, lots of boxes and widgets, but it’s well worth the time exploring to find exactly what it is you need.

I use it for the food and exercise counters. I find it very helpful to keep account of what calories I’ve taken in and how many I’ve burned. I also have a few doctor’s recommendations on particular vitamins and nutrients (like calcium and fiber) that I can track with their tools.

Most importantly for me is that I can track my food on the go. Being able to look up nutrition information from their vast database and other user’s input really helps me to think twice about what I’m about to put into my mouth next. That may not be your issue, but it’s really helped me learn how to make some better food choices and plan my food intake for a whole day, not just grabbing and eating everything in sight.

Number two on my list today is Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred workout video:

For a busy mom, this workout is ideal. It requires the DVD or downloadable video, a set of hand weights, and space. A mat is only necessary if your space is a hard floor. The entire workout lasts about 20 minutes, including warm up and stretching at the end.

It’s considered circuit training. You complete three six-minute circuits. Each circuit consists of three minutes of strength training, two minutes of cardio, and one minute of ab workout. Sounds easy, right?

Wrong. It will kick your butt. First day I tried it, I could only get through one six minute circuit without feeling like I would die. Granted, I realized quickly I was dehydrated (don’t exercise on one cup of coffee) and was coming down from a weekend long sugar binge (really bad idea). I wasn’t going to give up, and I tried again the next day, well hydrated and made it through the whole workout. I was winded and beet-red at the end, but I did it!

I’m already seeing amazing results, my stamina improves every day and I’m beginning to feel definition in some of my muscles. It’s only been six workouts so far. I did have two days without working out while on my road trip, but I think I’ll be downloading the videos from iTunes before BlogHer so I don’t miss a beat.

Stay tuned later today for my third item for the kids: Jumpstart’s latest Wii game, Get Moving- Family Fitness.

My kids have been using JumpStart online for a while now. We first started when we won a free 3 month subscription from a contest over at A Mom Blog. It was in the early stages and while the kids liked it, I had a few issues with it. I was pleasantly surprised when I received positive interactions from the crew over at JumpStart to my concerns. Since that time, we’ve continued to use it and I am really amazed at how they continue to roll out new “worlds” which are new sections of games. I am amazed that it continues to captivate my first grader. He frequently chooses JumpStart over other television network websites for games.

If you are a family with multiple children like ours, you’ll like that each child can have their own sub account to save their own game. We can even have more than one child playing on our account on different computers at the same time. Because the virtual world remains the same, I’ve discovered the older children helping the younger ones navigate the world and the games. Hop on over to JumpStart.com to try a subscription membership for yourself to see how well it works for your family. It’s a great way to keep their minds busy on snow days!

Personally, I can’t imagine any mom, especially a stay-at-home, run of the mill, mom blogger such as myself, following the Twitter buzz, internet hype and a post like that and investing in one. It almost makes me want to cry. So as self-proclaimed Mac enthusiast and mom blogger, let me lay out my argument against (this version of) the iPad.

#1. It won’t multi-task. It’s not like your laptop, you can’t have 6 different softwares open at the same time. If you are like me, when on the laptop at any given time I may have a music player, Tweetdeck, an internet browser (or two) with numerous tabs each, e-mail, iPhoto and maybe even Skype all open. No, the iPad won’t do this. Yes, for the price tag, in my humble opinion, it should.

#2. No Flash. You know all those websites with the fancy photos on the front page? How about those games your kids play on all the network webpages? Yep, most of these are in Flash. When on the iPhone and you encounter a Flash application, a lovely blue cube with a question mark appears. Annoying yes, but can you imagine how much more annoying when the blank area takes up half of your 10 inch screen?

#3. Not for children. I’m not sure where people are getting this idea, but have you seen what my sons can do to a $7 paperback book? There is no way I’d hand them a $600 device to read a book or watch a movie or whatever. I think this is a completely ridiculous notion. And even if you do have older, more responsible children than I do, see note #2. Do you know how annoying it is when a child expects to see something on a webpage and it isn’t there? Yeah, that’s just a free ride to Whine City.

#4. No camera. Seriously? Not anywhere? Several of the design speculations about what the new tablet from Apple would look like had one on the front, so you could use iChat, Skype, etc. for video chat. Sure, it’s obviously too bulky to use as a regular camera like you would your iPhone, so it makes sense not to have one on the back. If Apple is the king of innovation, they really missed the mark here. All Mac laptops come with built in iSight cameras, so clearly Apple does not view this as a laptop competitor.

#5. Apps only. Not software, just apps. For instance, you’ve got a few minutes of time while waiting in the carpool lane, and you want to do some quick color correction on your photos. You’d have to have an app for that. So that thousand dollar suite of Adobe software you have at home, nope, can’t install it on the iPad. You’ll have to buy a new app, that’s likely far less useful to fix those great photos of the kids for your Christmas card. Sure, I expect the App store to explode with new versions of things with the new iPad capabilities, but it’s still just a glorified iPhone, not a real laptop.

#6. Hard drive size. Yep, they only go up to 64 gigs. If it’s bigger than an iPhone, more useful than an iPhone, why didn’t Apple give us more room to store things on it? If I really expected to replace my 2 yr old 160 gig Macbook Pro with this new cutting edge technology that is going to revolutionize how I view computers, it’s going to have more space. Again, the design shows that it’s clear that Apple is not intending this to replace your computer, it’s really just competing with the Kindle.

Don’t believe me? Check out this article from someone who knows more than I do and has actually seen an iPad: Gizmodo: 8 Things That Suck About the iPad

I’m really quite disappointed by Apple. It’s almost as if Apple set me up on a blind date and the iPad was waiting at the table for me. Sure, it’s quite the looker, but as dinner wore on, I grew weary of the shallow conversation. Clearly the iPad is all beauty and no brains. Apple, you told me you knew what I wanted in a partner; how great you were at pushing boundaries; how you’d revolutionize how we read, write and interact. I just can’t trust you to pick another blind date for me again.

All in all, I think I may ask my hubby to build me a hackintosh. So if I ever get to attend one of those cool blogging conferences, I’ll be the chick in the corner with a netbook with an Apple sticker on the lid.

Over the past few years, we’ve found a few titles that work pretty well for us. We’ve enjoyed Go Diego Go: Safari Rescue and Pajama Sam in Don’t Fear the Dark. But both of these left us wanting. Pajama Sam had the educational value we liked and allowed for exploration within the game. Diego really used the unique motion qualities of the Wii platform, but was primarily just a 2D Mario-style video game. My newest, favorite child-friendly game is JumpStart: Escape from Adventure Island.

We’ve been testing this great new game for a few weeks now. It has the great JumpStart characters and 3D virtual world format that many of you may have tried in the online version. At JumpStart, they’ve done a great job at blending the educational game format that they’ve perfected with the abilities of the Wii remote, all while keeping it accessible to even a preschooler. My sons were thrilled to recognize many of the places and games they visit online, but I appreciated that you do not have to have internet access to play the Wii version, unlike the computer version. Sure, it may not be much of a difference in your home, but if you’ve ever given a young child a turn on the computer, you know how many “oops” and wrong clicks they find. By playing on the Wii, they can explore the world much better on their own than on the computer version. Which is especially handy if you are a one computer household. No one wants Jr. messing up the computer that adults need for work, finances, and social networking.

Unlike Pajama Sam, which took the traditional PC game format and moved it laterally to the Wii format, Jumpstart Escape from Adventure Island actually uses the tilt features in the Wii remote in the games. On Pajama Sam, we were limited to clicking. For children used to the active format of the Wii, this gets very boring very quickly. Another benefit of the JumpStart game over Pajama Sam is that the buttons and instructions are voiced over for those emerging readers. There was a particular section of Pajama Sam we were quite disappointed to find had a lot of reading and required supervision and adult assistance. No, I don’t use the Wii as a babysitter. In our house Wii is reserved for after school, weekends and on rainy days. However, I do expect that a game can be played with assistance initially and with limited supervision or help thereafter. Momma does have to do laundry and dishes after all, I can’t sit around playing video games all day!

Another great feature of the JumpStart game is that there are lots of levels within the game. It will take a long time for our kids to get bored with this game. Both Pajama Sam and Diego were rather limited, and after a few weeks and several times mastering them, the kids were bored and haven’t asked to return to them.

My sons love making their Jumpees and houses, the navigation of the customization pages is easy for the kids and they love earning, shopping and purchasing these accessories. I really like the reward system that encourages them along the way to the main goal, escaping the island. It will be interesting to see how long it takes the kids to master this game. Both Diego and Pajama Sam were games they completed on the first day they played them.

There are a few items in the “cons” list for the JumpStart game I should make you aware of. First, it is a single player game. That said, the games can be replayed and because of the map format, it’s easy to create your own house rules for taking turns. Second, there are only 3 spaces for saving games. So if you have more than 3 children, this could be an issue as each child would not have their own individual game. Third, the graphics are juvenile. Sure, it’s a kids’ game, but I don’t really care for the nature of the graphics. I’m not sure if it’s a lack of quality or a style choice, but I tend to expect a bit more out of a game and system designed to play on high definition televisions. All of these things are definitely outweighed by the great educational games and the way it encourages the children to move and think as they play.

Now for the good news: the JumpStart blog is having a contest! The theme of the contest is “Time to Escape!” JumpStart wants to hear how your family uses imagination to escape the everyday
and turn life into an adventure! Tell them your story for a chance to win a Family Escape pack worth over $1000 including this Wii game, a Wii console, a Flip camera, JumpStart.com memberships and a SpaFinder gift certificate and more. Don’t delay, the contest ends November 16th. Click over to share your story now.

I received a complimentary copy of this video game to play and review courtesy of JumpStart. These are my personal opinions, no other compensation was received for this post.

If you have any questions about Zhu Zhu Pets, feel free to ask in the comments section. I’m working on writing up my tips & tricks about these hot holiday toys to post in a few days.

Disclosure: Our family received our complimentary Zhu Zhu Pets sets & hamsters from MomSelect for an in home party. We were also provided a hamster as a gift for each child attending our party. There was no expectation of or compensation for any blog content.

I love to read. Sadly, with four children swirling around nearly non-stop, that’s a difficult venture. I have to admit, I’ve had this book for a while. There are two major reasons it’s taken me so long to write this review. The first is, I have four children and I can barely sneak through a paragraph, much less an entire page without interruption. Unless I’m sitting behind the locked bathroom door, then the full page is an actual possibility.

The second reason it took me so long to finish this book and write the review is that Kathy Buckworth is just so darn convincing as she insists that every mother should have a smartphone. So, about mid-way through the book, after the previously mentioned phone debacles, I upgraded to my very own smartphone. Of course, if you’ve been reading this blog very long, you’d guess I didn’t get the Blackberry. But despite the differences in brands, The Blackberry Diaries: Adventures in Modern Motherhood shares the joys and trials of owning a toddler and a smartphone.

When I received the invitation to review this book, Kathy’s biography read like a checklist for a possible new best friend. Mother of four children – Check. Loves Technology – Check. Canadian – oh wait, so maybe not a perfect match, since I live in Missouri, but you get the idea. How could I not love a book that I might, if I could find the time, write myself?

The book is written like a blog. Instead of traditional chapters, each entry has a date, title and ranges from one to five pages. It makes it ideal reading for the interrupted mother. Not to mention the tags at the end of each entry are their own little punchlines, often eliciting a louder outburst of laughter than the actual entry. Warning: don’t read this book in the presence of your children unless you repeatedly want to hear, “What’s so funny, Mom?”

Kathy takes us on a year-long journey beginning when Seamus (yes, she named her Blackberry) arrived on Christmas day. From there, she weaves the intriguing illustrations about how owning a BlackBerry and parenting a toddler are quite similar. She even offers insightful, humorous tips on how to wade through those tricky mommy situations like PTO meetings and bus stop gossip.

My favorite parts of the book are when Kathy shares about the struggles of being a work at home mom, or even just a technically savvy mom, while dealing with the more traditional stay at home mom types. A few weeks ago, my iPhone fell out of my pocket during a “Read to your parent” activity at my son’s school and a mom politely said, “I think that’s your phone, or, uh… whatever that gadget is, on the floor. I can’t keep up with all those things.” While I can’t call Kathy up (she doesn’t give her cell number in the book), reading her experiences at least made me feel a little less freakish. I may be the only first grade stay at home mom at our school who totes a smartphone, but I am not alone!

There are two major drawbacks to this book. Number one, it’s only in print. If they offered it in an electronic version (hello: Kindle for iPhone) I would have finished the book and my review much sooner. The second drawback to the book is that although it is moderately prices (currently under $12 on Amazon.com) it comes with a high hidden cost. As you might notice if you read the Amazon reviews, my experience was not an isolated one. Kathy leaves her readers with the electronic version of baby lust. So if you purchase this book for yourself or as a gift, make sure you are prepared to upgrade to a smartphone immediately. Otherwise, well, that’s just torture.

This book is fantastic. I highly recommend it (you know I don’t recommend everything I try). I think it is an essential read for any thoroughly modern mother, Millie, or mommy blogger.

Can’t wait another minute? You can follow @KathyBuckworth on Twitter or @BBDiaries for tour dates. Also, Kathy is a scheduled guest for Nov. 5th on this BlogTalkRadio show.

Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book to read and review from Weber Shandwick, after receiving an invitation via TwitterMoms.