BlogHer and Lincoln recently gave my family the opportunity to test drive the brand-spanking-new Lincoln MKT for a week. Although I had been a passenger in an MKT briefly (like, around the block) during last summer's visit to Ford's Taurus plant near Chicago, I was in a car full of women yelling things like WOOOOO! so I might have been a bit distracted. In any case, I was excited to get the chance to discover what the MKT was all about in some real world scenarios.

The morning they dropped her off, I immediately grabbed the camera:

I don't know what comes to your mind when you think of Lincoln, but in my mind, I used to think:

The beauty sitting in my driveway caused quite a few head-turning reactions, and open disbelief from friends, neighbors and total strangers alike. To which I say I KNOW. Also, look! It IS a Lincoln.

We had an absolute blast discovering all the super-fun bells and whistles on the MKT - and this experience has opened up a whole new world of must-haves for our future next car. First of all - check this out - when walking back to the car after the school's winter concert, I hit the unlock button on the keyless remote, and the whole car glowed with welcoming, golden light.

That's the car equivalent of a puppy wagging its tail when you approach, and it made me very happy during the cold, rainy week we had with the MKT. Also, I know, we're switching from black and white to color with the photos now. Pretend you've just landed in Oz.

The interior was luxurious and comfortable for my entire family of five. Lincoln has packed in so many thoughtful features that I don't even know where to start.

The third row of seating is easily accessible with a few quick hand motions, and if you've ever had three squirrelly kids sandwiched into a bench seat, you'll know what I mean when I say that third row of seating can make all the difference between your sanity and wondering why your car doesn't have a sound-proofed barrier between the driver and passengers. Actually, okay, I still wondered about that. Lincoln, would you please consider adding a soundproofed barrier for us harried moms? Please?

In the interest of science, I climbed into that back seat, and can say that I fit comfortably enough, although my head was barely clearing the roof, and I'm just under 5' tall. There was adequate legroom for my little peanut legs, too, but I think a larger adult would probably not want to sit in this seat. That said, I believe that there are different seating configurations available, and perhaps one of the other versions would make this space more accommodating to a grown-up sized grown up.

The leather seats were scrumptious, and the console storage was epic. Everywhere you look in the MKT you can find handy pockets, recessed compartments and consoles that open up to reveal enough storage room to hide a small child. Okay, a really really small child. Alright, fine - a ton of DVDs, portable gaming systems, shin guards, books, you name it would fit in the compartments.

Even more exciting for the kids was the refrigerated compartment in between the two back rows. And no, we didn't let them eat or drink in the car, but man - what a nice feature to have, especially if you are like me and constantly on the go from school to soccer to baseball and home again. No more coolers to kick around on the floor, or eat up valuable trunk space.

Other awesome features include integrated sunscreens on passenger windows and heated/cooled seats. Seriously. My buns were all about that. I kept on cooking and chilling my hiney, to the point that it was a little excessive according to my husband, who was getting tired of having to touch my rear repeatedly while I insisted he "feel it now!"

The panoramic roof was also a huge hit. Man, with a few taps on a button, you could open the roof all the way up, which made me wish that it wasn't raining, so we could take a drive out at the redwoods or the coast or something. This car totally made us want to take a road trip.

But, since we were limited on time and weather, we decided to test out a couple of my other favorite features while heading out for some family fun.

The SYNC system rocks. Within minutes of the car being dropped off (whereupon I stood in my driveway and waved cheerfully to the cutie-patootie driver until he was out of site and then did a weird end-zone dance) I had managed to get my iPhone not only talking to the hands-free phone function, but had imported my contacts into the system - all without cords or plugs or drama. Not only that, but it effortlessly (and wirelessly!) picked up music from my iPhone - allowing us to rock out to tunes on demand.

Not only that, but you can totally talk to the system, and it understands what you want. I was able to get driving directions, change radio stations, change the temperature of the car, and guide my family into the closest In-N-Out Burger all without touching the screen.

Mmm. In-N-Out Burgers.

Okay, so then it was back in the car for more rockin' out. That's how we roll.

I'm one of those people who regularly runs over my trash can on the way out of the driveway because my husband thinks it is fun to put the can right behind my car. I can't see it back there, and I always forget to look. That's a pretty significant problem, don't you agree? Never mind that that is also about the height of a child on a bike, and the fact that we live in a busy neighborhood full of not so attentive kids and... let's just say that while the rear visibility through the windows of the MKT was initially frustrating, I quickly fell in love with the rear-view camera and warning system.

There's some sort of radar built into the car's sides, too, that allows the MKT to warn you (via your side mirrors lighting up) if a car is approaching from your right or left when you're trying to back out of a parking spot, and it is this same radar that allows the MKT to parallel park itself, perfectly, every single time.

I tried to make a video of it doing this, but it was basically me screaming with glee, so I'll spare you. But I will admit that I drove around for about an hour repeatedly parallel parking, and it never got old. Not even a little bit old. That is some super awesome fun technology.

Another thing that really impressed the heck out of me was the Adaptive Cruise Control feature. I'm a chicken with using cruise control. I like the idea of it, but I'm always worried that someone is going to pull in front of me, and I'll have to stop using it, and then restart it, and it's confusing and waaaah. So when I learned that the MKT actually senses the speed of the cars in front of you and adjusts your speed to maintain a safe distance, and then will readjust back to your set cruising speed as soon as it is safe to do so - well, sign me up for that. We

There are lots of other amazing features on the Lincoln MKT - a V6 engine that performs like a V8, state-of-the-art safety features right on down to rain-sensing windshield wipers (cool!) and headlights that turn in the same direction as your steering wheel to better light your way.

We spent a lot of time looking at each other and saying "Shut. Up." about the cool things the MKT could do. It totally changed the way I'll evaluate cars in the future, and I feel really lucky to have had the chance to have this extended test drive opportunity.

Would you like the chance to drive a 2010 Lincoln MKT for a Night on the Town? Here's your chance to win a first class experience from Lincoln. Indulge in style. Enter to win a night of pampering with the Lincoln MKT. (valued at $1,500).

You and a guest could win:

• A chance to drive a 2010 Lincoln MKT* for the evening


• Local spa package for two


• Dinner for two at a local restaurant


• One night stay at a local hotel

To enter, please visit the BlogHer.com special offers page.

But wait, before you go... be sure to check out all the reviews, because each reviewer is giving away a $500 Visa Gift Card! Want to win MY gift card?

To enter, leave me a comment below and tell me your favorite technological feature in your car - or in your dream car - or you may leave a link to your post on your own blog in the comments below. The contest will begin January 25, 2010 and will end February 24, 2010. Make sure that the e-mail address you leave is correct.

Rules:
• No duplicate comments.
• You may receive an additional entry by linking on twitter and leaving a link in the comments.
• You may receive an additional entry by blogging about this contest and leaving a link in the comments.
• This giveaway is open to US residents, aged 18 and older
• Winners will be selected via random draw, and will notified by e-mail.
• You have 48 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.
• Please see the official rules here: Official rules

In September, the lovely folks at Euro-Pro paid for my flight and hotel in New York City for a special blogger launch event for the Ninja Master Prep. I also received a Ninja of my own, in order to write this review.

The event itself was held at the super-lovely Mandarin Oriental in New York City. Will you look at the view from our reception room?

We were greeted warmly and allowed the opportunity to mingle with our fellow attendees.

(from left to right, Carmen from Mom to the Screaming Masses, Y from Joy Unexpected, Lotus from Sarcastic Mom and yours truly.)

Then, we were whisked into a special demo featuring celebrity chef Robin Miller showing us how to use the Ninja.

I announced my excitement:

And got random props from a roving band of ninjas:

This was just before things got underway for reals. I kept the silly tweets to a minimum, because honestly, I was totally into the presentation.

Right about that point, Robin was pulverizing ice cubes into snow, in a side by side demo with a blender. SNOW. She made a bunch of other recipes - a fish thing, salsa and guacamole, several blended drinks, soup... she had me at "SNOW."

After the presentation, we had the opportunity to play with not only the Ninja, but a whole bunch of other Euro-Pro products (reviews forthcoming on those as well.) We also got the chance to visit with Robin Miller.

We enjoyed a lunch featuring the dishes that Robin had demonstrated before scattering back into the city. All in all, the event was really fun and informative, and made me super-excited to get my Ninja on back at home.

So, here's the thing. I absolutely love love LOVE this thing. I've had blenders and I've had food processors, but neither was capable of effortlessly whacking just about anything into submission with almost no cleanup after the fact. The motor goes on top, and even if it is plugged in, it will not engage unless all the parts are properly seated, making it completely safe for even my seven-year-old to operate (provided I do the assembly of the blades.)

I have broken two blenders making frozen fruit smoothies. BROKEN. As in tore-up, motor-on-fire, can't- handle-it broken. Plus, I always had to stop it 500 times to stir things around, and mush things down so that the blades could do what they are supposed to do.

My food processor was great at chopping and mixing, but I always managed to make a holy mess with wet ingredients. Plus, you can't serve from the bowl - you have to disengage the whole thing from the machine, and then scoop or pour it into a serving vessel.

Now, I seriously just dump in the fruit and pulse it about 5 or 6 times, and I've got frozen fruit snow. SNOW.

In fact, we've successfully made fruit sorbet this way, that was ready to eat straight from the Ninja. This is a bag of frozen pineapple blended with a can of light coconut milk. That's it, and it was delish. No sweeteners needed!

I seriously use it every. single. day. We make salsa, guacamole, frozen drinks, smoothies and even whipped cream. That one blew me away. In LESS time than it takes to use my Kitchen-Aid stand mixer, it whipped heavy cream perfectly. Like, six little pulses or so. That is crazy talk, my friends. It took longer to scoop it onto the pie than it did to whip it.

I use it so much that I've managed to rub the logo off the motor pod part. It's now known as the "JA" around here.

Hi-JA!

While I don't do the whole dual bowl prep, if you wanted to make, say, fresh salsa and frozen margaritas at the same time, you can! You just move the motor from one container to the next.

Some of the other great features: everything comes apart easily and effortlessly for cleaning, and the plastic used for the pitcher and smaller bowls don't discolor or get etched like my old food processor's bowl did. Because the motor is on the top, and the blades lift out of the mixer bowl, you can serve right from the mixing container (and they provide handy snap on tops if you want to store in the fridge.)

Part of the reason that my review is taking place so long after the trip and receiving the Ninja at my home is my 38-year-old sister was diagnosed with breast cancer shortly after my return from New York. She's doing really well now, thankfully. As part of her therapy, she's modified her diet to include a ton of fresh, raw foods. Right away, I knew that she needed a Ninja of her own, and I was delighted to give her one on Christmas. I'm happy to report she's a convert, too.

As usual the second any new game arrives, the kids made off with it immediately. I can always tell when a game is a big hit, because I have to be sneaky to get a chance to play it myself.

The game follows the plot of the new movie, and allows you to play as 5 different characters. It has great music and the game play is smooth and intuitive. I really appreciated the onscreen directions that appeared at critical junctions of the game - they kids seemed to wiz right through the levels after an attempt or two, but it took a little extra prompting for me, and I'm glad it was built right in.

There is a lot of variety as you move through the game, too... you can switch characters easily, solve puzzles, win battles, and can unlock really fun mini-games as you play. You use the touch screen and occasionally the microphone to control the game play, and while even my five year old could successfully play, the game had enough challenging elements to keep my older kids happy and playing (for hours. Seriously.) Even better, there is the capability to play mini-games wirelessly with two or more other DS-slinging players.

Activision has created a winning translation of these great characters and totally captured the flavor and sass of the Madagascar crew. We all give this game a huge round of applause.

Thanks so much for letting us test it out!

But I'm getting off track, because The Parent Bloggers Network recently emailed me and offered me the opportunity to review Hasbro's latest collaboration with EA games - Littlest Pet Shop for the Wii. When the box arrived, I opened it with a flourish and presented it to my nine-year-old daughter, who immediately snatched it out of my hands and headed to the living room, teeth tearing into the cellophane wrapper in her impatience to get it going.

I trailed her and offered to assist with set up but she elbowed me out of the way, and within moments was naming her new characters. My soon-to-be-six-year-old was also able to easily manipulate the game controls, and although it is a single player game, the kids really enjoyed working together and helping each other select fashion accessories and create names.

I'll be honest, I didn't get the chance to touch the remote. This game was such a huge hit with my kids - even my son, who normally won't play with what he considers "girlie" stuff - that I finally gave up trying and let them have at it without me. They loved the 16 different mini-games and despite repeated playing, the ability to change the difficulty of the games has kept their interest. The four different worlds that are available for game play are charming and colorful, and really capture the imagination. They are well on their way to unlocking and collecting all 32 available critters, and while at first I wished that they could play together - the fact that they can't compete with each other, and have to take turns totally rocks, now that I think about it. No bickering!

Thanks EA and Hasbro for letting us have this opportunity. To check out what other Parent Bloggers Network moms had to say - visit the round up.

I totally enjoy Wii Boogie - the original game, although I have some issues with the available characters and songs being a little too sexy and mature for my elementary school aged kids. So it was with glee that I fired this up and noticed a new look for the characters.

Gone are the weird animal and monster-looking people. Instead, they have a whole host of male and female characters in a variety of kid and tween friendly looks that you can customize.

The game play is different too - gone is the need for the nunchuck controller, and the moves are triggered by the movement of the Wii remote. The basic dance moves are easy to master, even for my kids, and the tutorials were fun and easy to follow. Within ten minutes of opening the box, we were having a dance-off.

I really liked the onscreen move prompts - they are easy to follow, and simple combos are possible right from the get-go. We haven't tried choreographing our own routines yet, but I like that it is an option.

My kids really get a kick out of the American Idol-style stage and contest format and judging. I love that you can select your events and song, or leave it all up to the whim of the judges. I found the karaoke portion was more challenging than I expected, but then again, these songs are current hits - over 30 songs that you will actually hear on the radio, if you get the chance to listen to anything other than The Wiggles. I'm not as up on the lyrics and songs as I could be - and I'm betting most kids and teens are going to know all of these songs well.

# Angel, Love Like This [remix], Pocketful of Sunshine - Natasha Bedingfield
# Dance Like There's No Tomorrow - Paula Abdul
# Bullseye, Like Whoa, Potential Breakup Song - Aly & AJ
# The Great Escape - Boys Like Girls
# Everytime We Touch, What Hurts the Most - Cascada
# Fancy Footwork - Chromeo
# Thnks Fr Th Mmrs - Fall Out Boy
# Glamorous - Fergie
# Elevator - Flo Rida feat. Timbaland
# I Don't Want to Be in Love (Dance Floor Anthem) - Good Charlotte
# Wake Up - Hilary Duff
# Hold On, SOS, That's Just the Way We Roll, When You Look Me in the Eyes [remix] - The Jonas Brothers
# No One - Alicia Keys
# Take You There - Sean Kingston
# Girlfriend - Avril Lavigne
# Bleeding Love - Leona Lewis
# Shake It - Metro Station
# What You Got - Colby O'Donis
# I Don't Think About It - Emily Osment
# Nine in the Afternoon - Panic at the Disco
# Hot N Cold - Katy Perry
# Jump to the Rhythm - Jordan Pruitt
# Don't Stop the Music, Shut Up and Drive - Rihanna
# Yahhh! - Soulja Boy Tellem
# Radar, Toxic - Britney Spears
# He Said She Said - Ashley Tisdale
# Makes Me Wonder - Maroon 5
# Stronger - Kanye West

It did crack me up that the one song that sounded pretty familiar was Paula Abdul's new one from last year. Hahahaha. Mama needs to get caught up on some new music, I think. Boogie Superstar comes with one microphone so you can sing your heart out - or you can mumble along tunelessly like me, whatever works for you.

If you're looking for a fun, user-friendly game for your pop-star or dancing queen, this is a great place to start. I'm looking forward to getting a little deeper into the features of the game - but the fact that we were engaged so quickly, and having so much fun right out of the box, tells me that this game is going to be a big hit.

Pick up your own copy of Boogie Superstar with Microphone
here. To see what other Parent Bloggers reviewers had to say - check out the roundup post.

Trying to decide what to buy now, and what to buy later... it's a challenge. That said, new socks and underwear are always on the list. So when the Parent Bloggers Network offered to outfit my kids with new socks and underpants from Hanes, I was thrilled.

My youngest wasn't quite big enough for the sizing offered for this program, but I was downright giddy to receive new boxers and briefs for my eight-year-old son, bikinis and briefs for my nine-year-old daughter and new ankle-length socks for both kids.

We're a Hanes family from way back. Early on, I'd try to save a few pennies by purchasing socks and underpants from other labels. I'd bring home packages of socks with toe seams that rubbed blisters into my kids' toes, and stretched out or wore out after just a few wearings. We've never had those problems with the socks we've purchased from Hanes - the yarns they use are simply stronger and thicker, and provide more cushioning for busy feet. The construction on the heel and toe fits better in their tennis shoes - no balling up or blisters from these socks - and best of all, the elastic ribbing on the tops of the socks just doesn't give up.

My daughter has always been finicky about her underpants - elastic that digs in or doesn't stay put causes her (and me) no end of grief. We've battled over panties for years - until once again, we found that Hanes made excellent, comfortable panties and briefs that do not ride up, and move comfortably with your kids without binding or irritating. They are 100% cotton, which is actually really super-soft and the tagless design is a huge bonus.

My son is very slender through the hips, and while he prefers boxer-briefs most of the time, he was delighted try out Hanes No Ride Up Briefs and No Gap Fly Boxers. The premium cotton and great styling - especially the tagless design and wide, covered waistbands make both of these options comfortable and non-irritating. I was really pleased to see how cleverly styled the No Gap Fly Boxers are - they allow total freedom of movement without the risk of accidentally exposing anything. Hanes, for the win!

Thank you Hanes, for allowing my family to go back to school in comfort and style!

To see what the rest of the Parent Bloggers Network reviews had to say - be sure to check out the roundup.

As yes, the final week of summer vacation.

With the help of my kids, who were taking as much credit for the arrival of the box as a pack of Woolly Mammoth hunters would be for bringing down a furry elephant, we hauled it inside, and ripped open the seal.

See, I knew that I would be doing a review of the new M&M's Premiums chocolate candies for BlogHer, but I figured that I'd be getting a small sample, or a few coupons or something. I assumed this had to be something else.

As soon as I cracked the seal on the box and got a look, I started laughing. I had a giant box of 35 pounds of super-deluxe candies, nested in a shiny silver liner to keep them cool. I swear to you that as soon as the first flap was lifted, a chorus of angels sang and a sunbeam struck the silver liner, rendering the kids awestruck. I seized this moment of temporarily spellbound children to grab one of the end flaps on the box and started dragging that thing towards my bedroom as fast as I could go.

The kids instinctively knew that there was some high quality stuff in that box. I tried to convince them that it was rocks. Then, when they got the whiff of chocolate, I told them that it was special grown-up Lady Chocolate and not for kids.

LadyCandy. Aw yeah.

I handed each kid a random box and shooed them away. Faced with 57 remaining boxes of gorgeously colored chocolate, my mind began to work. Should I empty the boxes into a giant pile and play pirate's treasure? Should I wait until my husband came home from work and leave a trail of M&M's Premiums down the hall and into the bedroom, where I would be waiting on a bed covered with pretty little candies? Shaking the vision of doing M&Ms angels in a snowdrift of candy, I wisely decided to hold off on any drastic action.

I called my co-workers and taunted them about my giant box of candy instead. They loved that, as you can imagine, and advised me not to eat them all myself, because they were afraid the resulting sugar buzz and giggling fits could cause the earth to fall off its axis.

I really love the packaging - they have an elegant, hour-glass shape to the box, and the inner wrapper is resealable - which, as Chris noted, is so adorable. Actually, my nine-year-old is using a few of the boxes as storage for some of her little trinkets and collections of tiny things. At a generously sized 6 oz each, you can really get your snack on - and still be able to share with a friend.

One of the really distinctive things about these candies is the lack of the candy shell. I'm a girl who chews up my cough drops, and can't be bothered to let things melt in my mouth, but hand to the heavens, with the rich flavors and creamy consistency of the chocolate on these new M&Ms, I was moved to put one candy in my mouth at a time and just let it happen. And it was gooooood.

The five flavors are:

Triple Chocolate - "truly tempting layers of milk chocolate, white chocolate & dark chocolate"

Mint Chocolate - "sinfully good white chocolate mint wrapped in dark chocolate"

Raspberry Almond - "berry blissful raspberry flavored white chocolate & almond wrapped in dark chocolate"

Mocha - "simply tantalizing mocha flavored milk chocolate"

Chocolate Almond - "delightfully delicious freshly roasted whole almond wrapped in milk chocolate"

As you can see, there is something for everyone to love here. I'm partial to the mint and triple-chocolate myself.

Last Wednesday was the first day of school for all three of my kids - for the first time ever. After I returned home from dropping the kids off and settled down at my desk with a cup of coffee, it felt anti-climactic. Where was the party?

Right here. Here's a little party for ya.

I've been gleefully sharing my bounty with my family and friends - and the reactions have all been pretty dramatic - everyone is blown away by the great new flavors and beautiful gem-like colors.

You have GOT to try them.

Don't want to take my word for it? Head over to the roundup page and see what my fellow reviewers had to say!

Remember this?

Rocking Out to Choo Choo Soul from BigSliceJenny on Vimeo.

Here we are, a few years later, and FINALLY! We have the CD in our hands. No more pausing TiVo and rewinding thirty million times!

I've been a huge fan of Choo Choo Soul since the very first video hit the airwaves, and more importantly, so have my kids. Genevieve and DC have put together a fantastic collection of songs for kids that ARE NOT CHEESY. I hear that the discs will be available August 22.

We also received They Might Be Giants' Here Come the 123s. Filled with the wit and bouncy alt-rock vibe they are known for, we all love this album as much as the earlier No! - and that's A LOT. Nothing gets my kids moshing around the living room, cracking up and dancing like fools like TMBG.

Ralph's World's The Rhyming Circus take a sweeping approach to genres - there's a little something from everywhere in these songs, and it is so fun to watch the kids change their movements and their attitudes as the music shifts from rock to country to oompah and back again.

The kids were excited to see Juice Box Heroes from Imagination Movers in the stack of CDs, too. This one didn't get as much airtime as the others so far, but I've got to say, I'm impressed with the catchy hooks and funny lyrics.

The final disc we received is the Disney Music Block Party - featuring classic songs from the Disney movies performed by popular artists and characters from the Playhouse Disney crowd. I was more excited about this one than the kids - they haven't seen many of the films that these songs are from, but I was really pleased with the fresh takes on some of my old favorites.

Thank you, Disney and MomCentral! If you'd like more information on this great new catalog of albums, visit Disney Music Block Party.

For more reviews, check out the round up post at MomCentral.

The box arrived and I put it in my office, ready to unveil it on the weekend. And then I forgot about it for a couple of weeks. With 6 weeks, left until my review date - I suddenly remembered (woke up from a dead sleep in a panic, in fact) and tore it from its packaging.

We did the basic set up in less than five minutes - the instructions were clear and easily followed. I appreciate that, especially now that my kids are old enough to want to do it all themselves. After spending a good 10 minutes happily raking the growing medium into zen garden-like patterns with the miniature green rake and then patting it smooth with the miniature green shovel, we headed out to the local garden center to buy seeds for the kit.

I urged my kids to select some herbs seeds, and I wandered around selecting some other goodies for the yard. When we got home, the kids planted their seeds, and we placed the greenhouse on the counter.

Flash forward one week - we've got a few little seedlings popping up, and we followed the instructions and changed out the water.

Week two - lots of little seedlings now - we switch the water again.

Week three - the seedlings are thick now, and we weed a bunch of them out. The little sprouts are starting to reach toward the window now. We switch out the water.

Week four - wow - the plants are really starting to take off. We've got lots of leafy goodness going on.

Week five - what. the. heck. happened? The plastic greenhouse top has been knocked asunder and the sides and swiped a bunch of the little plants out of the growing medium. We replant them as best as we can, and move the greenhouse up higher. My five-year-old disavows any knowledge of the plant mayhem.

Week six - miraculously, some of the plants have survived. The morning my review is due, I grab the camera, and wander out into the kitchen to snap a photo of our little victory garden.

Catastrophe. Literally. Our little garden lay on its side, with my cat crouching over it, looking drunk. It seems that we planted catnip, instead of the oregano seeds I had help the kids select.

Um, whoops!

I opted to clean up the growing medium and throw the cat outside, rather than take a photo of the mess.

The Hydro Greenhouse was a fun, easy project for the kids - as an all-around black-thumbed gardener, I appreciated the easy set-up, and the continuously fed watering system. The growing medium was really pretty cool, and the seedlings seemed to thrive in their little plastic house.

We're going to give the Hydro Greenhouse another shot - and this time? We're sticking with oregano.

To read what my fellow Parent Blogger reviewers had to say - check out the roundup.

This fun adventure starts off when you select your pet - you can either choose to be a cat or a dog - or if you're not sure, the game will help match you with your perfect pet with a fun questionnaire. Right after I helped my five-year-old start up the game, she mastered the simple navigation, and grabbed her older sister for a two-heads-are-better-than-one play session. They were having a blast navigating the island and "buying" toys and outfits for their new pet, and I enjoyed the relative peace and quiet.

Later in the week, I took a spin around Vacation Island, although I did it on a different DS (we have several) and the date was off by a day or two for some reason. I was scolded by a rock in the game for reasons unclear to me - seriously, a rock. I made it sad. I am so not even close to understanding all of THAT.

So, while Go Pets: Vacation Island wasn't as engaging for me, my kids all loved it. With my assistance, they learned how to connect to the wifi and went global - briefly. They really enjoyed all the mini games that are part of the play, and enjoyed learning how to befriend other pets.

This is a really fun addition to our little arsenal of DS games, and unlike other titles, the kids are really still enjoying it. Thanks MomCentral!

When we bought our home in 2000, the plan was to update everything as we had the time and budget.

And then we didn't. Whoops!

So we've got this, um, vintage situation going on. It's sort of grody, actually.

Mom, avert your eyes. No matter what I try, that mildewy nastiness just keeps coming back... and any sealant from years past is long gone. It has been time to recaulk this sink for 10 years. And we totally were gonna, I swear. TOTALLY. And I do so clean my sink. It just keeps coming back. It's not my fault!

You can't argue with the excellence that is this jewel-like faucet. Ba-da-bling!

Now, that is high class. They don't make 'em like that any more. Or, um, if they do? They probably should knock it off.

So! Onward. I grabbed the little package and despite the super-reflective packaging, managed to get a shot. Behold!

I peeled the directions off the back of the package, to find that pages one and two were comically sealed to each other, allowing me to view only pages three and four. After a few moments of panic, I finally managed to unstick the other two pages:

Clean the surface. (I TOTALLY DID, MOM!)
Remove any old caulk.

Oh, um... wait. How do you do that?

Razor blade...rusted. (Wail that like Cindy Wilson in "Love Shack")

Scrape scrape scrape....

This obviously could have ended badly. I was prepared (heeeey random shout out to Johnson and Johnson) for the mishap that didn't happen. Prepared to be cute, even!

Once I got the stuff scraped off and sucked up with the shop vac, I was presumably ready to go with step three - applying a smooth bead of caulk.

True confessions time - I was feeling kind of cocky (caulky?) about this project, because I'm a pretty good cake decorator. I'm able to make flowers and stuff with icing, so, like, I should be able to make a straight, even line with this thing, right?

Yeah, not so much. I had a cup of real coffee AKA jitter-juice which may have contributed to my bravado about this whole project, but my hand was shaking really bad. Despite the neat, easy to open, smooth squeezing packaging, I smeared a line of the stuff on the edge, and then, using my wet finger, tried to make it do that thing it is supposed to do.

And then I used a bunch of paper towels and smeared it around. And then I got mad and wiped it all off, and started over. The GE Caulk Singles have more than enough for three around the sink applications of the world's fattest, most messy bead. Ask me how I know! Go on!

In the end, though? I got it mostly right. And look:

It's like a brand new sink! Now, if I can just do something about the faux-wood cabinetry and chipped mirror...

This is my entry for the Spruce Up Your Space contest from GE Caulk Singles and BlogHer - for a $1000 Visa Gift card.

I've been a big fan of Clorox Disinfecting Wipes since they first came on the market. I don't use them for all my cleaning jobs, but especially in the bathroom and kitchen, it is so handy to have a container of wipes ready to go.

When the gals at Mom Central offered me the chance to try out the new and improved Clorox Disinfecting Wipes, I couldn't wait. I mean, these things are already awesome and convenient as all get-out. What more could they do?

When my sample pack arrived, I ripped it open in glee. You guys... they made the wipes thicker and stronger and! My favorite part! They smell pretty!

Lavender is supposed to be a soothing scent, so I marched into the kids' rooms and wiped off their nightstands. Sleep tight! This is like a germ killer and sleep-aid all rolled up into one!

Then I marched out to the living room and spotted my new Wii Fit board. Bare feet and sweat and my not exactly pristine floors? Aw yeah.

Perfect spot to test out the wipes, baby. Two quick swipes of the board, and the faint dirty foot prints were wiped away from the Wii Fit board. Fitness equipment, light switches, door knobs, even the sticky mystery mess left on the bathroom counter by one of my kids who refuses to step forward.

I've been having a blast wiping stuff. And to a reluctant housekeeper like me? That's golden.

Thanks, Mom Central and Clorox!

Via Random.org's Random Integer Generator - the winning comment number is: 7

And... our 7th comment is from Kim, who doesn't have a blog to link. Congratulations!

I received an email from a PR agent last week, offering me the chance to give away a Wii, courtesy of Nestle Crunch. What's the catch? No catch! Nestle just wants to know what YOU do to stay young at heart and celebrate your inner kid.

Eating Nestle Crunch bars apparently is good for the kid in you. I know this, because they sent me a pinata filled with mini-Crunch bars, and my kids are currently engaged in trying to tear the thing limb from limb in a frenzy for the goodies. Before I go and throw myself into the fray, I thought I'd share the ways that I maintain my youth. Besides hair dye and wrinkle cream. And teeth bleach. And Spanx.

Ahem.

Anyone who has been reading my sites for any length of time knows I'm a huge cornball. I love to joke around and spend much of my time laughing. Even when I'm bleaching and dying and squeezing myself into spandex body armor! It's true!

One of my favorite regression techniques? Playing like a kid.

Witness:

This Could Go Really Great, Or Really, Really Bad from BigSliceJenny on Vimeo.

Wanna see that trick from another angle?

See Me Roll from mizzjenny on Vimeo.

My friend and I took our preschoolers to the inflatable jumpy place to "let them play" and we ended up taking over the place and scaring the other children and parents for life. It was so much fun to leap around, yelling and laughing and going down giant slides that gave us wedgies-

and boxing with giant gloves -

and in general acting like four year olds -

I have no doubt we totally made a spectacle of ourselves. And I've been itching to go back and do it again. Acting like a rampaging dork is one of my favorite ways to cut loose and take care of Little Jenny.

(Big Jenny is ready press her advantage and steal most of the fun-size Crunch bars from the scrum under the pinata.)

So now - it's your turn! Tell me what you do for the kid in you?

• Head over to your blog, and share how you celebrate The Kid In You.
• Please link back to this entry and mention that you are entering to win a Wii from Three Kid Circus and Nestle Crunch.
• Then come on back here and leave a comment with a link to your entry.
• Don't have a blog? It's okay! Leave a comment here with your story or fun tips for keeping it immature.
• Tell your friends - everyone is eligible!

I'll keep the entries open until Wednesday, May 28th at midnight. I'll choose the winner through a random drawing, and announce it here on Thursday, May 29th.

Need some inspiration? Check out the Nestle Crunch site for lessons on Pig Latin and other funny time-passers.

Unlike this last summer's Mother-Daughter Sorority Extravaganza - this one was for the mamas only. And let me tell you...this was the PERFECT way to kick off Mother's Day.

The party was to be held at my house, but given the size and general decrepitude of my humble abode, I almost passed on the opportunity. When lamenting this sad state of affairs, one of my friends volunteered another friend to host the party at her lovely and spacious home.

A few phone calls later, and we were in full party-planning mode.

By which "we" means the lovely ladies of the Nintendo Party Brigade. I just made a couple of phone calls. Sent some emails. That sort of thing. They even made custom invites for the party.

On the day of the party, I figured that in the interest of being fit and active-appearing, I would ride my bike the four blocks to the party location. You know, it was really weird being the "hostess" and just showing up merrily, la la la... I could totally get used to that.

When I arrived, I parked my bike and greeted the lovely and gracious Holly who was actually hosting - and moments later, the television delivery guy arrived. And hot on his heels, it was the Wii Fit Party Squad.

TV delivery you say? Why yes! Armed with three flat-screen tvs, seven hundred boxes and several suitcases, the Nintendo team kicked into high gear, and transformed the house into a fitness-party wonderland. Not only did we have the game setups, but we also had lovely fruits and juices all fancied up, and bottles of water on ice stationed conveniently about the party area, and Wii Fit experts standing by to help us get our moves on.

After the initial setup was done, and before the party guests arrived, Holly and I took our turns getting on the balance board and going through the BMI and weight part of the program. Holly's husband kindly stepped out of the room before we calculated my totals - aaaaaand I'm obese. No suprise there. In fact, the little Wii FIt voice was rather cheerful about it, and the little character looked stunned to notice that she was on the ginormous side of things. It is what it is. For now. More on that in a minute.

With that out of the way, we quickly switched back to the characters created by the gorgeous women who had been training themselves silly for the last week, in order to unlock all the possible games and exercises.

Once the guests started to arrive, we quickly got into the groove. The Wii Fit women walked us through the basics, and then turned us loose. All three game setups were going simultaneously. It was really funny - one group would be doing the hula hoop game, and then we'd notice the group in the kitchen was doing yoga, so we'd all go over there and watch for a minute.

Then someone else would start boxing, or being a penguin, or ski-jumping, and we'd wander into the other room to ooh and ahh. And taunt. We did a lot of taunting.

Midway through the party, Catherine and the rest of the Nintendo team laid out a magnificent, healthy spread including dolmas, baba ganoush, hummus, pita, olives and feta cheese, tabouleh and orzo salads and seriously yummy shish-kabobs. We also enjoyed the most delicious white wine version of Sangria - I have to get the recipe for that!

Reactions from the rest of the party guests were a lot of fun to overhear. One friend who is a physical therapist for children, was very impressed, and eager to get her hands on a copy of Wii Fit for her clients. Another friend was not interested in the cartoon-style games - she wanted to dig into the more 'adult' exercises. Both the yoga and the strength training modules impressed her - but what really won her over? The tightrope walking game.

Incidentally, I suck at tightrope.

And the bubble down the river game.
I should have titled this one "Pop!"

But I'm a hula hooping wunderkind, and I'm loud and proud about it.

Who knew you didn't even need a hoop? This was moments before I really let loose and shook what my mama gave me on my way to a super-high score. You're glad we didn't capture that.

It functions as a scale, sure, but it is also pressure sensitive to a very high degree, and even the slightest shifts in balance trigger a response on the games.

This made for a frustrating, challenging and ultimately addictive play experience. Everyone wants to try just one. more. time. before quitting - because you know that you can master it if you just practice a little bit more. That's the best kind of motivation, if you ask me.

I love that the games start off short, but as you gain skill you can add minutes or difficulty to the activities. I also love that there is no prescribed workout order, or must-do activities to be successful. You work on what you want to work on, and for however long.

As the party wound down (actually, when the Wii Fit ladies started giving the party guests some thank you gifts and presented me with my own copy of Wii Fit (!) and then started packing things up,) everyone quickly started playing their favorite games one more time. We had some ski jumping going in the kitchen. We had some last minute penguin action going in the living room. And Mary and Kim decided to have a running race.

I think I lost two pounds from laughing. Clutching the Wii Remotes and jogging in place, Kim and Mary ran and ran and ran. Mary stuck with it, but Kim started cheating and just shook the remote with her hand.

At the last minute, Kim's on-screen character tripped and fell. Mary's character stopped to see what happened, and Kim's character leaped up and ran across the finish line for a win.

We finally relinquished the balance boards and turned over the remotes, and one by one, the guests headed home. After a final pack-up, and a spit-polish of the kitchen, the Wii Team left, too, and I mounted by bike for home.

Since riding home slightly tipsy with the Wii Fit box crammed in my bike basket and setting it up at 11pm, I've played daily. Actually, that is why it has taken me so long to post this entry... my poor arms were all sore from whacking the crap out of the punching bag in that boxing game. (Not really. But ow! It makes me sore!)

I'm not the only one either - everyone from my five year old, seven year old and nine year old kids to my husband has set themselves up and has played for at least a few minutes daily. I love the quick burst of energy I can get from a couple silly games - it makes for a great break from work. And I'm noticing muscles hurting that I forgot I had... this is always a good sign.

I think I'm going to set up a Wii Fit page on Three Kid Circus to keep track of my progress publicly. Believe me, I know that merely playing Wii Fit isn't going to get me down out of the obese category, but it's a start - and a damn fun one at that. Thank you, Nintendo!

Want to win a Wii console and a Wii Fit of your very own? Check out my contest at Three Kid Circus.
(A number of Wii Ambassadors and several other lucky bloggers will be giving away Wii Fit as well - I'll link to their contests once they are up!)

I'm still a proud mama, but I'm not as good about sending photos to the extended family as I once was. Digital cameras are awesome, and I use Flickr to share my latest shots with my online-savvy family and friends. But for the other members of my family, including my mother-in-law? She doesn't use a computer - and I am lazy about getting the prints made and mailed. The last candids she has of my kids are a couple of years old now...and I'm a horrible daughter-in-law.

Another challenge about using Flickr with the online family is that not every shot I post online is fit for Grandma's eyes. I mean, I'm not posting Moms Gone Wild photos - often...

So anyway, the lovely ladies at Parent Bloggers offered me the chance to test out the online service for families - Kinzin - and I jumped at it.

Kinzin.com is a fun, free and easy and secure way to keep your loved ones up on the latest from your kids. Once you've logged in, you can set up a quick profile for each of your kids, and include a quick "what he/she is doing right now" blurb ala Facebook status or Twitter message. Each child has a dedicated "Kidstream" with a place for journaling, photos and more.
You can see what my page looks like here!

Hands down, though, the best feature of Kinzin is the photo shipping. Check this out...

You can upload photos directly to Kinzin, or you can suck them in from Facebook, Flickr and a few other services - Kinzin will select the most recent 10 photos (or you can select your own assortment) and at the end of each month, Kinzin will print and ship these 10 photos and a custom message to the folks that you've signed up for this service. At $2.99 per address, you cannot go wrong. That's less than a latte, and you'll be keeping Grandma happy - automatically.

Even better, I guess they are doing a promotion right now where if you buy 2 addresses, you get one free. They will automatically send up to 10 pictures ONE time per month to the addresses you have listed. That's like $6, for 10 photos plus a custom message to THREE people who would love to see the latest photos of the kids.

My order just arrived, and the finishing is lovely, and the colors are great. I love that the photos are matte finished, and have the photo name printed on the front of the photo. (I didn't realize that this would be the case, so in future batches, I'll rename the photos to something more descriptive than park_001)

For the delivery service alone, Kinzin is going to make me look like a rock star. But the online hub for interested family and friends is really cool, too - and keeps all those "Mommy Weekends" safely segregated.

To get started, visit the Kinzin.com homepage. To see what my fellow Parent Bloggers reviewers had to say, check out the roundup.