Recently Mom Central and Evenflo gave Kathi a chance to check out Evenflo's new Smart Steps Feeding Line. Kathi's computer isn't working quite right so I am posting on her behalf. 

Caring for a toddler 5-days a week, I am always interested in items that can make the experience easier, more fun, more productive, etc.  Since we have recently moved into the "big people" foods arena, I was particularly interested when Mom Central and Evenflo offered me the opportunity to check out a few products from their new feeding line, Smart Steps.

For this review I recieved a Smart Steps insulated cup, snack stackers, discovery spoons, and magic labels.

About Smart Steps from the Evenflo Web site:

Evenflo is putting a spotlight on toddler nutrition with its innovative new Smart Steps™ toddler feeding line, designed to specifically address childhood obesity and eating disorders. Developed in collaboration with top nutrition experts from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Smart Steps offers parents a simple solution to fostering lifelong healthy eating habits by providing products for each age and stage of a child’s eating development.

Through the use of an Eating Arc, Smart Steps addresses the various ways in which parents load their toddlers’ plates with food at mealtime and offers specific product solutions from one of three categories: Knowing Portions, Exploring Food, and Serving Myself. Each category is centered on basic principles that help nurture healthy eating habits and align with the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) guidelines related to toddler feeding.

In addition to liking the products, I was really impressed with Evenflo's Smart Steps web site. The site isn't all about Smart Steps. It includes lots of great information that parents with toddlers need like tips for dealing with picky eaters, suggestions for getting kids to try new foods, and it even has some great kid friendly recipes that are not only healthy - but fun too!

If you are in the market for toddler meal time supplies, I'd def. recommend checking out Evenflo's Smart Steps line. For more information on Smart Steps, and to download a coupon, visit Mom Central's web site.

Winter coats are one of those items that you can't live without during the cold months. For the homeless, the winter months can be extremely hard and unfortunately, because of the cost, a lot of time people who are strapped for cash have to choose to go without.

I bring this up because today I received an email from Lands' End about a promotion they are doing to collect coats for the homeless.  If you are looking for a new coat, I hope you'll consider Lands' End this year. Not only will you get 20% off for trading in your old coat, but you'll be helping someone who really needs its.

Here's the email:

Lands’ End has joined forces with the National Coalition for the Homeless for the Big Warm-up.  The Big Warm-up provides an opportunity for people across the nation to donate a gently used coat that will then go on to warm one of more than 3.5 million homeless women, men and children in the United States right now – each facing a cold winter.

Beginning October 29 until November 30, Lands’ End is hosting Big Warm-up coat donation sites at its 252 Lands’ End Shops at Sears and 13 Lands’ End Inlets®.  Donated coats will be distributed via the National Coalition for the Homeless in communities nearby.  AND… Lands’ End is giving 20 percent off the purchase of a new coat for each one donated.

Visit WWW.BIGWARMUP.COM to see how each coat can warm a heart, track donations, find donation sites, watch an inspiring video and spread the word.

BIG WARM UP SWEEPSTAKES: To further the goal of keeping America warm this winter, we’d like to offer an additional opportunity for you to impact your direct community. If you decide to share this information with your readers, please send me a link to your post to be entered into the Big Warm Up Sweepstakes. At the end of the program on November 30^th, we will pick a winner and donate 100 coats to a local charity of your choice. If your post includes the Big Warm Up video, which can be embedded to your blog throughwww.bigwarmup.com, you will qualify for an additional entry.

Getting my 7yr old to brush his teeth can be a real bummer of an experience.  Not so much because he doesn't like to brush, but because a) he doesn't think it's fun and b) it signifies two things - bedtime & school time.

When Mom Central contacted us recently and invited us to participate in the October Oral Care Challenge, I was all over it. I was up for anything that could make tooth brushing time less of a bummer (for all of us....).

Here's how the challenge worked:

To complete the challenge, you and your child have to brush, floss and rinse every day, twice a day for two weeks - easy right? To help us track our progress, Listerine provided us with a dry-erase calendar that we taped to the mirror in my son's bathroom.

For the challenge Mom Central, Reach and Listerine sent us the following items:

• An assortment of adult and children's dental products - mouth wash, Smart rinse, floss, fun children's tooth brushes.
• A calendar and stickers to help track our progress.  

As soon as we opened the box from Mom Central I knew this would be a challenge we could rock.  My son all but screamed when he saw the bottle of Listerine Agent Cool Blue.  I had not heard of it before, but will be buying it from now on!

Here's how it works (and how it gets kids excited to brush) - Agent Cool Blue is a tinting rinse.  Children swish it in their mouths prior to brushing and it tints their teeth (and entire mouth) blue.  My son thought it was a riot.  Children then proceed with flossing & brushing, and if they have done a good job their mouth/teeth will no longer be blue. Fun right?  Of all the items we received, this was the biggest hit. This had my son asking me if he could brush his teeth.  That's right... he was initiating tooth brushing!

If you'd like to try Listerine's Agent Cool Blue or Smart Rinse products, right now Listerine has $1 off coupons you can download!

While October may be coming to an end, you can still participate in the Oral Care Challenge. Just visit Listerine Kids, here for information. In addition to info on their products, the site has a lot of great oral care tips for parents - broken down into age brackets.


"I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Listerine and Reach and received Listerine and Reach products for the Oral Care Challenge and a gift certificate to thank me for taking the time to participate."