Category: Product Reviews

Recently, much to my delight, Sophie has gotten into My Little Pony.  I say “much to my delight” because I L-O-V-E-D MLP as a child.  As a matter of fact, my favorite pony was named Morning Glory and I would not purchase her for a friend’s birthday party until AFTER I myself owned her, because I was a selfish little twit!  But I digress.  The point is….

It all started a couple of months ago when I got her the My Little Pony app for my iPad.  I like it because it has a storybook with games and activities.  There is a My Little Pony TV show but we don’t have the channel it’s on, however, the iPad app and some MLP books we’ve bought or received got her excited about the product.  So for her birthday, as soon as she got some birthday money from great-grandma, she bought herself some MLP!  We went to Target and picked out this:

It’s a very cute playset.  Nothing earth-shattering, but very fun for pretend.  Sophie loves putting things in Apple Jack’s cart, conversing with Apple Jack’s farm creature pals, and of course, stylin’ her hair!

Sophie also got a couple other My Little Pony things for her birthday – Pinkie Pie’s remote control car, which is LOTS of fun, and I think, a great value for the money, and this super-awesome fashion Pinkie Pie that comes with a TON of hair accessories and is really very fun for any little girl who likes to PILE ON the hair barrettes.  It’s been lots of fun!

So those are some things Sophie got for her birthday, and then because she is such a sweet little girl :), my friends at Hasbro sent her a couple of other MLP surprises! She is now the proud owner of her very own Princess Celestia:

Princess Celestia, is featured prominently in the My Little Pony app that Sophie loves so well, so she is pretty excited about her!  Plus, she TALKS and her wings move!  She lights up! She is pretty much the IT Pony to have.  The Morning Glory of this generation, if you will!  Now I hear that some freaks called “Bronies” (a.k.a men or “Bros” who are rabid fans of the My Little Pony tv show – yes, I am being serious) have their boxers in a bunch because this Celestia is not the same color as she is on TV. To them I say, “Get a job and move out of your mother’s basement.”  I think the doll Celestia is super-fab just the way she is!

Lastly, Hasbro also sent Sophie another playset, which is great because she loves to pretend with the playsets so much!  It’s the Ponyville Schoolhouse, which is awesome because Cheerliee and her teaching skillz are also prominently featured in the MLP app so Sophie can re-enact scenes from it with this set!

So, my little girl and I sure are enjoying My Little Pony. If you’re shopping for a little girl this year, put some of these things on your shopping list! And get her what she really wants, so that unlike me, she won’t still be pining over the MLP stable she never got to house her ponies in 25 years later! Ahem.

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Hasbro sent me two items to review.  My opinions about them and about all the other products mentioned are my own.

I can’t believe we’re almost to the end of our Lands’ End Starfish Collection giveaways!  The winner of giveaway #7 was our pal Cortney.  Congrats!!  Keep being persistent and entering EVERY giveaway if you want to win!

There’s another new Starfish item I just received and I ADORE: The Starfish Quilted Jacket.

I happen to be wearing it right. this. second.  Even though I am indoors!  Because it’s so cozy, I don’t want to take it off!  It’s lined with soft jersey, has a roll-sleeve which is ever-so-convenient, and the quilting is just so cute!  This is a great addition to your Starfish wardrobe or ANY wardrobe!  It’s a fabulous fall jacket. I have this bright berry color and it’s so pretty.  But there are several more neutral colors available, too.

So now it’s time to enter to win FIVE pieces of this gorgeous, comfy Starfish collection from Lands’ End!  Here’s how to enter:

1) Go check out the Starfish Collection and leave me a comment letting me know which piece you think looks the best. If you can’t pick one, that’s ok, just tell me what you love!

2) “Like” our facebook page and leave us a comment on this post telling us you did our already do

3) Tweet about this giveaway “Win 5 pieces of the #landsend Starfish Collection from @jennyitup & @momminitup http://bit.ly/scvuEq ” then leave us a comment with your tweet URL.

4) Subscribe to our feed, then leave us a comment on this post letting us know you did or already do.

This giveaway will end Friday, November 25th at 8 pm EST!  Good luck!!

To celebrate Sophie’s 5th birthday, Bobby and I really wanted to do something special.  We took Joshua to Entertrainment Junction for his 5th, so we started thinking of somewhere that would really excite Sophie but that would also work for us as an entire family.  We wanted a little getaway but didn’t want to go too far from home.  Bobby came up with the idea of an indoor waterpark, because Sophie had loved the one we visited last June. After looking around at the options, we decided to try CoCo Key, just north of Cincinnati.

When we told the kids, they were *so excited*!  And when we got there, CoCo Key did not disappoint!  Joshua and Sophie had an amazing time.

Even Jonah enjoyed himself immensely!

Here’s what I really loved about CoCo Key:

• Gates!! There were gates closing off the little kids area from the seating area and also gates closing off the main part of the waterpark  – they were easy to open and close for adults, and for older kids, but they made it very difficult for smaller kids to get away from their parents. 🙂
• Smaller kids area: my kids had a blast in this area that was just for them.  Of course they could go off and enjoy slides in the main area, also, but it was great for them to have somwhere to relax and just play together.  There was a LOT of room for them to move around as well as do the slides.
• Convenience: Food & drink were available to purchase poolside so you never had to be far from the action.
• Lazy river – who doesn’t love one of these?
• The main area was lots of fun, too.  Sophie, my adventurous child, spent just as much time going on all the slides over there as she did in the kids’ area.  And Bobby assured me (I didn’t try) that the slides for only those over 4 feet were screamin’ fast and lots of fun, too!

We did stay one night at the Crowne Plaza, the hotel that is home to CoCo Key.  It was very nice and comfortable, and we all slept great!  Even Jonah, which was totally unexpected!

We really had a wonderful time celebrating our girl, and CoCo Key was the perfect spot to do it in! We will DEFINITELY be back!  If you are traveling to the Cincy area and are looking for a fun family place to stay, I highly recommend it!  Check out all CoCo Key has to offer on their Facebook page.

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The good folks at Crowne Plaza/CoCo Key gave me a reduced rate for my stay to help facilitate my review, but the opinions are all mine and are not influenced by the facility.