Yesterday, I was able to host a WebkinzJr Party (sponsored by MomSelect) at my house, where six new families were introduced to the WebkinzJr toys and site.

We listened to a fun CD of preschool music from Bebop & the Beats, an animal band featured on WebkinzJr.com and the Webkinz YouTube Channel.

We played animal charades, had a teddy graham snack, and colored animals for paper sack puppets.  But BEST OF ALL – each child got their very own WebkinzJr plush!  We were fortunate enough to receive the very *newest* members of the WebkinzJr family – the mouse, elephant, puppy, kitten, and giraffe.

visit the entire WebkinzJr catalogue

The kids loved them, and the moms agreed that they were incredibly soft and cuddly.  I was able to open the WebkinzJr.com site for them and let the moms and kids poke around.  There was a great response from the moms, who were excited to see a website so geared towards the younger preschool age group.  I also heard that it was nice to have a “jr” counterpart to the Webkinz products, which their older children enjoy.  None of them were aware of WebkinzJr, which was exactly the point of the party!  It’s great to introduce something like this to families who I {know} will enjoy and appreciate – and USE – the product!

Here are some pics of our party animals:

Party At My House with WebkinzJr is original, copywritten content (unless otherwise indicated) by Stacey Nerdin for her blog Tree, Root, and Twig. Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited.

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(for more Top Ten Tuesday posts, visit ohamanda.com)

Oh, how I wish everyone would make their blog updates available via email.  I don’t know when my preference started leaning this way, but I love the convenience of getting blog feeds in my inbox, and I am *much* more likely to read them there than in Google.  I subscribe to far more than 10 blogs via email, but here are the first 10 I see to start off this Tuesday morning:

1. Savvy Little Women – I love Kate’s photographs of her five delicious daughters (which include TWO sets of twins!).  This blog reminds me to savor the time with my young children and look for extraordinary beauty in the everyday.
2. It’s Come To This… – It strikes me that Mandi’s posts are always so helpful – I *never* fail to walk away with something, whether it’s food for thought, a strengthening of my faith, or a knew skill or knowledge.
3. Adventuroo – Melissa started following me on Twitter after she read about our family’s 4-week road trip this summer.  I’m glad she saw a kindred spirit in me!  Melissa (or Mel) seems to have an endless supply of enthusiasm for adventure, and shares that with readers, along with great tips and advice for improving the blogging experience online.
4. Silly Eagle Books- Vanessa’s site is a gorgeous ode to the power of books and creativity.  Her design aesthetic is so lucious, I just love reading her tutorials and brief posts about how she surrounds her family with knowledge and beauty.
5. a belle, a bean, & a chicago dog – Oh, how I wish I could bottle some of Liz’s energy!  She seems to be everywhere at once with her wit, fabulous writing abilities, and focus on building community.  She is a shining star, for sure.
6. Closing Time – I first “met” Erin online when I did a review of her & her husband’s music CD for kids (Here We Go).  I rarely follow business relationships into a more personal sphere, but I’m drawn to Erin’s thoughtfulness, devotion to her children and homeschooling, and general sense of calm and confidence in the world.  She also has an amazing talent for graphic design.
7. Chris Brogan- I’ve compared reading his site in the morning to the way people in business and finance read the Wall Street Journal in the morning – if I want to know what’s going on in social media, I need to keep up with Chris Brogan.  An absolutely FABULOUS resource if you want to get down to the brass tacks of being online.
8. Pensieve – I have been a long-time fan of Robin’s – of her writing, her wisdom, her goodness.  I got to hear her speak at Type A Mom Conference last year and was just entranced; she is one of the most authentic, kind-hearted people I’ve ever met.  I love what she writes about her older children, the love she conveys for her family, her God, and her home.  She also has an *awesome* sense of humor!  She is absolutely the Real Deal.
9. ShePosts- The site’s focus is on “Curating buzzworthy news & scoops from the mom blogosphere.”  If Chris Brogan’s site is the Wall Stree Journal, ShePosts might be compared to People magazine (and I say that with a LOT of love – I adore People!).  It might have more attitude and sauciness (and pictures of people and parties), but ShePosts is still an important resource in tapping into the pulse of what’s going on with bloggers and companies online.
10. Tree, Root, and Twig – does it seem weird that I subscribe to my own blog?  I subscribe via RSS in my Reader, too!  I do it because I’m very concerned with how my blog appears over several platforms, and I like to try to look at things through my readers’ eyes.

Quick edit:  here’s a bonus #11 for you.  I swear, back when I subscribed to our Top Ten Tuesday hostess, Oh Amanda, receiving updates via email was not an option.  Was it?  Amanda, am I crazy, or did you add that in the recent past?  Anyway, ohamanda.com has been added to this list, too!

Like I said, I subscribe to more than 10 blogs via email, and still dozens more via Google Reader.  So you might not see yours or your favorites on the list, but I may still be a follower!  But tell me now, what’s one more blog I should add to my reading list?  And do you prefer to read your blogs via email or reader?

Top Ten {Tuesday}: 10 Blogs I Subscribe To Via Email is original, copywritten content (unless otherwise indicated) by Stacey Nerdin for her blog Tree, Root, and Twig. Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited.

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eBay…Classifieds?  Well, back then it was called Kijiji, but either way you cut it, I get the same reaction nearly every time I mention my work with the company:  What’s eBay Classifieds? 

eBay Classifieds is likely the most useful website you aren’t using, but SHOULD.

And here’s why….

eBay Classifieds is:

• a local, online classifieds site
• free in all categories
• easy to use, with a focus on a non-cluttered page design
• equipped with filters to provide a safe and family-friendly site
• working to eliminate fraud and scams from the online classifieds experience
• set up to eliminate annoying duplicate ads
• equipped to share your ads on Facebook and Twitter
• committed to excellent customer service support with a rapid response time
• creators of a fantastic iPHONE APP, which allows you to post an ad, upload images, search, create a watch list, correspond with users, and share ads, all from your mobile device! (watch for an upcoming post dedicated entirely to this iPhone App, as well as their fantastic Pet iPhone App)

And if the first question I get is “What’s eBay Classifieds?,” the second question is usually, “How’s it different than {You-Know-Who}slist?”  I’ll give you my own personal take on it:  in my experience, eBay Classifieds is more focused on and attentive to the user experience, they’re more concerned with it being a safe, useful, practical experience.  It feels more personalized to me, even down to the superior aesthetics of the site itself.

eBay Classifieds as an entity is also very concerned about interacting with their users, being involved on community levels, and providing organizational tips for people looking to clear out the clutter in their lives. (all links lead to individual stories on the eBay Classifieds blog, which keeps you up-to-date on all the news, happenings, and concerns of the company.)

Many people don’t know that eBay Classifieds (still known as Kijiji outside the US) is a widely-used and commonly known site in Canada and overseas.  In fact, with it being the #1 classifieds site in Canada, the question there is rather “WhoseList?” instead of “What’s eBay Classifieds?”  I’d love to see it get to that point here in the United States as more people hear about and begin to use eBay Classifieds.

*Disclosure:  I am a member of the eBay Classifieds Ambassador team.  I receive no financial compensation from my participation, but eBay Classifieds is sponsoring my attendance at the Type A Mom Conference (where I am excited to talk to people about the site!).  All opinions expressed in this and any post I write about eBay Classifieds are honest and my own.

eBay Classifieds: The Best Website You’ve Probably Never Heard Of is original, copywritten content (unless otherwise indicated) by Stacey Nerdin for her blog Tree, Root, and Twig. Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited.

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It all happened in the space of maybe three minutes, a perfect storm of comedy that left me laughing harder than I have in a while.

It was time to pick up my girls from school, so I hurriedly replaced my 2yo’s carseat in the van, tossed him in the car, and off we went.

He had brought my iPhone in the car and was playing with SmackTalk – an app that has a squeeky hamster repeat everything you say.

As I pulled out onto the main road from our subdivision, I had to make a somewhat fast turn.  I heard a worried “Ohhhhh!” from my son (repeated by the SmackTalk hamster).  I thought he was being silly, and didn’t think anything of it, until I looked in the rearview mirror and saw that the carseat – and my son – were perched at a precarious 45-degree angle.

His eyes were wide as he demanded from me “What’s wrong with the car?!  What’s wrong with the car?!  What’s wrong with the car?!”  (all repeated, of course, by the SmackTalk hamster)

The scene was just too much for me – my son’s surprise, my inability to do anything, his question, and the hamster.

I just started laughing like crazy.  And apparently it was loud enough for the hamster to start laughing in echo.  Which made me laugh harder.  My son, squeaky hamster, and I rolled in waves of uproarious guffaws.  I can’t imagine what we looked like from the outside.

(Just a note:  as soon as I pulled into the school pick-up line, I unbuckled and fixed my son’s carseat.  But the whole thing was almost worth the momentary snafu!)

And Then the Hamster Laughed is original, copywritten content (unless otherwise indicated) by Stacey Nerdin for her blog Tree, Root, and Twig. Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited.

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 Perhaps because of Moon Dough’s special qualities, the molding dough requires some kneading to solidify it before the kids can begin to play (all instructions can be found here).  It doesn’t smell so great, either.  And it’s incredibly crumbly and has the potential for a huge mess.  The product is marketed to kids as young as 3, but I highly suggest total supervision for children 3-5 years old.  Three of my older kids – ages 9, 12, and 13 – obviously managed just fine.

Having said that…my kids all LOVED the Moon Dough Barn playset.  And I did, too!

The colors of the dough are vibrant, and my kids asked at once if they sold dough refills (the answer is:  yes).  The barn has a molding compartment in the top – you pack the dough in, turn the attached crank, and out pops a figure in the mold you choose (sheep, cow, horse, chicken, fence, or hay bale).  I have never had this much luck with dough molds actually turning out how they’re supposed to.  It’s such an easy process, and they turned out exactly like we wanted!  It was like having all these little toys when the kids were done molding.  The fence molds are particularly cute, because the pieces fit into each other, so you can actually “build” a little fence around the farmyard.

Again, I should clarify that it was my older kids who consistently used and enjoyed the set.  My son who is nearly 3 enjoyed it as well, but had to be watched carefully in order to avoid a mess, and had to be helped to pack the dough in tightly enough for a mold to turn out.  Because of that, I would give this product a qualified recommendation, based on the age of your child and how much help would be required while playing with it.

Disclosure:  I received the Moon Dough Barn playset from Team Mom in order to facilitate this review.  No other compensation was received.  The opinions expressed here are honest and my own.

Moon Dough: Magical Molding Dough {Review} is original, copywritten content (unless otherwise indicated) by Stacey Nerdin for her blog Tree, Root, and Twig. Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited.

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