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Family Meals Made Easy

At our house, meal planning is one of our great struggles. By our, I mean it is a struggle for Suburban Mommy, since she does 95% of the grocery shopping and meal preparation for the kids. My 5% struggle comes in when I get home at 6pm, after picking up the kids at preschool, and there is nothing for me to eat because I didn’t plan for myself. That’s why I end up eating Cheerios for dinner after the kids are in bed.

If you also struggle with planning meals, here is a great solution. Dine Without Whine (love the name) sends you an email each week with menu recipes AND the grocery list for everything on the menu. The meals are kid tested, meaning they won’t look at it and instantly say “I don’t like it”. Having the grocery list already made is the key to making meals simple.

All the planning work is done for you, and you can go back to your other daily struggles, like potty training and bedtime.

A Better Way To Buy Shoes

It was time to get new sneakers for the kids. Somehow, Thing 2 had managed to wear a hole on the top of his shoe. Probably from all the time he spends on his belly, kicking his feet, during meltdowns.

Naturally, we have to get both kids new shoes at the same time, or else there will be major trouble. And, whenever possible, we get the same style for both. Remember: variety is a bad thing.

So, off to Target on a full family outing. We have to take two shopping carts to keep all three contained. Luckily they had one of these double carts.

Letting the oldest walk is simply not an option. First of all, there is no way Thing 2 would sit down if he saw his brother walking. Why not let them both walk on their own? I might as well just hand a blank check to the cashier on the way in, as a retainer to cover all the damage they would do. No, they must be contained.

The store didn’t have a great selection of shoes. Thing 1 quickly found a Transformers pair in his size. But the only acceptable size 8’s (to a toddler) were the ones with Lightning McQueen.

He instantly fell in love with them and refused to put the old ones back on, so we continued shopping with his new shoes still attached to each other by the security device.

Double carts are great if you have two kids to contain. The problem with the double cart, however, is that the riders are facing, and within arms reach, of each other. It didn’t take long for them to draw the attention of everyone else in the store with their standard preschool humor consisting mainly of potty words, laughing, pointing, singing, and fighting.

If only there was a better way to buy shoes…well I found one, and it’s called Shoebuy. Shoebuy has every brand and you can always find the right size, with whatever kids characters happen to be popular that month. Shipping is free. No sales tax. Low price guarantee.

And here’s the best part, returns are free, too. You can try on as many shoes as you want, just like in a store, and return the ones you don’t like. If you’re like me you hate shoe shopping. But Shoebuy is so easy. Really.

And you never have to deal with the dreaded double shopping cart.

Celebrity Look-Alike

I just found this very fun site which finds celebrities who look like you. Here is the look-alike match for Thing 2. The personality is a pretty good match, too!

I’ll be posting celebrity look-alikes for the rest of the clan soon…

Santa Makes House Calls

Every parents knows the misery of the yearly trip to the mall to see Santa. Waiting in a long line of hyperactive kids. Your kids start crying the minute they sit in Santa’s lap. Then, you have to waste money on pictures of kids with tears all over their faces.

Well, here‘s a better way. Why not have Santa come to you? You schedule a time for Santa to call your kids on the phone. They will be amazed that he knows so much about them. Of course, you could just have your Uncle Bob do the same thing, but then you won’t get a CD recording of the call. And, can you really trust Uncle Bob not to tell your kids they’ll be getting the loudest, most expensive gift in the world?

Finally A Place For Dads

With all the mom-focused parenting magazines, websites, blog networks, and marketing, you’d think there was no such thing as a dad. Well, the guys at DadLabs have created a voice for dads everywhere. From what looks like their basement studio, they put out several internet TV episodes each week. Basically, Wayne’s World without the bad hair. Recent topics include a debate about Beer at kids birthday parties, and a product test of a Touch Free Diaper Pail.? Go Dads!

Bumbo Chair Recall. Are We Going Too Far?

News yesterday of yet another child product recall, this time for the Bumbo chair. We’ve used the Bumbo chair for years and it is a great product. It allows babies to sit up before they can do it themselves. Thing 3 loves to sit in his Bumbo and watch his brothers play. It’s like he’s one of the big boys.

The reason for the recall is not due to some product defect. Rather, it is due to misuse, and frankly, lack of common sense on the part of some parents. While the Bumbo is good for keeping babies “stuck” in the chair, it isn’t fool proof, and babies can sometimes get loose. It clearly says this when you buy the product. Not to make light of serious injuries which have occurred, but it seems obvious not to put a Bumbo on a table or counter, or anywhere the baby could get hurt if he falls out. If you put the Bumbo on a carpeted floor, the baby won’t get hurt when he falls out.

So the company will now put large warning labels on the Bumbo, saying not to place on surfaces where the baby would get hurt if he falls out. They even published a gallery of videos showing safe use of the Bumbo. Isn’t this a little extreme? I mean, do parents really need to be told not to do stupid things? Should soccer balls come with a warning not to play with them near traffic? Should bikes come with a warning that you can fall off them? There aren’t any toys which, if misused, can’t cause some harm. Do parents really need to be warned about every one?

A Better Way To Rock Your Baby To Sleep

In the “why didn’t I think of that” category, enter The Settle Pedal. A nifty contraption that turns any ordinary crib into a foot powered rocker.

From their website:

The Settle Pedal is a product of the wisdom accumulated from having three kids. A tired engineer Dad decided a tool was necessary for helping get child number three to sleep so there’d be some energy left over for numbers one and two. Thus, the Settle Pedal was born.

Like this guy, SuburbanDaddy is a tired engineer Dad that has accumulated wisdom from having three kids.? But, I’m still waiting for the invention light bulb to go off in my head.

Great Place To Shop

One Step Ahead, for 0-3 years, and Leaps and Bounds, years 3+, have a great selection of products. Everything from bath, travel, toys, to child-proofing devices. Prices are reasonable and some items are exclusively theirs. No, I don’t work for them or get commissions. They just have some really well thought out and tested products that you don’t see in everyday stores. Here are some examples:

Tinkle Target – to help boys improve their aim

Sno-Baller – makes snow balls without getting hands wet

Foot Flusher – how lazy can you get?