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Things I Love Thursday: Toy Story 3 Action Links

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Yesterday we had a very special event at our house; a Toy Story 3 Action Links party! Thanks to Mom Select and Mattel, I got to host a party showcasing five Toy Story 3 Action Links sets.  So, I invited over some of Joshua’s BFFs for snacks, drinks, and FUN!  Mattel also sent a Buddy Pack of 2 characters for each child to take home.  There were some happy campers at my house!

There were also some really happy moms.  Because the Toy Story 3 Action Links sets are all connectable AND interchangeable, they kept 8 children ages 3-7 very busy for two hours!  Literally the three other moms and I got to chat and had very few interruptions. It was awesome!  The big boys like Joshua and his first-grade friends could operate the toys all on their own and didn’t need us to get up and keep fixing or re-setting them.  It was glorious!  The smaller kids had a great time at the party, too, but keep in mind these sets are for ages 5+ – that is if you want them to be able to play with them by themselves while you get a few minutes of peace!!   Here are some more scenes from our fun afternoon:

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Evil Dr. Porkchop attacks...the Sunnyside Daycare breakout set!
train + Jessie to the rescue
Cortney's little guy E & Joshua setting up for fun
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Sophie was the only girl! But she was in Toy Story Heaven!

Although I was really excited to get these toys for my kiddos to review, I was a little nervous that they would require a lot of work and maintenance from me. But like I said, that was TOTALLY not the case!  Joshua at six & a half is perfectly capable of setting these up on his own, and rearranging them in lots of different fun combinations. And since all the sets work together, there are TONS of options for different stunt combinations.  So, I give the Toy Story Action Links sets a very enthusiastic two thumbs up!

We had a wonderful party, thanks so much to Mom Select and Mattel for letting us in on the Action Links trend!

I love Toy Story 3 Action Links so I’m linking this post up to Things I Love Thursday at the Diaper Diaries.  Check it out!

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I was provided with five Toy Story 3 Action Links sets by Mom Select and Mattel.  This post is totally my own and was not edited by them in any way!

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A Lolly Love Affair

As I mentioned, Tuesday was my Sophie’s birthday. I did not mention a fabulous smashing birthday party, because we had a non-party for her. Why? Well, I’m 8 months pregnant and Sophie is very shy and hates parties. If 30 people that she absolutely adores are in a room together, that is about 22 people too many. So, we decided to forgo our adult wishes and traditions and let the girl have it her way. We just had a small, informal gathering at my mom’s with a few cousins and my grandmothers (because really, I am not going to tell my 91-year-old grandmother she can’t come to Sophie’s non-party!)

We DID have presents – although she only opened about half of them there, but instead of cake we had something super-fun and yummy. We had LOLLIES. Lulee’s Lollies, to be exact. What are they? They are delicious, sinful, CAKE ON A STICK dipped in chocolate. That’s right, the world’s perfect food! CAKE ON A STICK DIPPED IN CHOCOLATE! And the best part is that Lulee (who happens to be my BFF Luanne) can make her Lollies in just about any flavor and shape you could ever want! Since Sophie looooooooooves her some Veggie Tales, Lulee whipped up Lollies in the shapes of all her Veggie friends:

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Sophie chose to eat one of the French Peas (which was Red Velvet cake, OMG!)
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She couldn’t bring herself to decapitate Bob, Larry, Jimmy the Gourd, or Junior Asparagus, but the rest of us had no problem doing so!

Bob was Strawberry flavored, Larry my fave Key Lime, Jimmy was also Red Velvet, and Junior was Butter Pecan! And they were all AMAZING!!

So friends, I am telling you do yourselves a favor. Getcha some Lulee’s Lollies for your next special occasion!  (if you aren’t local to Dayton, she does ship!) She can do specialty lollies like the Veggie ones – you can see tons of pics at her website – (Hello Kitty, Disney, any kind of animal, even skulls for Halloween!) – or just plain old beautifully decorated round, flavored lollies.

But seriously. Cake on a STICK. Getcha some! Check out Lulee’s Facebook page and website, and remember, she is my BFF. And she totally did NOT pay me to do this post, although she did give me 50% off on the Lollies. (Geesh she drives a hard bargain!!)

I’ve linked this up to Things I love Thursday at the Diaper Diaries cause I LOVE ME SOME LOLLIES! Head on over to see what others love, too!

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Things I Love: U-Play Mat (and a giveaway!!)

A few weeks ago I was searching Amazon for toys or games that would help me work on speech therapy with Sophie at home, and I stumbled across the U-Play Mat. And I knew instantly that I HAD to have it for her.  I checked out the website for Play This Way, makers of the U-Play Mat, and discovered from there that they were on Twitter.  AND that I was already following them!  So, a few tweets later, and I had the opportunity to review the U-Play Mat Starter Set. I was totally stoked!   And, I would like to say, my expectations were totally met and exceeded. This is a FABULOUS and fun tool.  Sophie and I have been having a great time with it!

So what IS the U-Play Mat, anyway?  Well, it’s too simple.

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U-Play Mat Starter Set

The mat’s U-shape makes a nice place for your kiddo to sit in the middle while you sit across from him or her and ask questions about the cards that come with the mat.  The starter set comes with two decks of cards, and you can do 10 exercises with each deck.  You can purchase additional decks or you can purchase the Professional Set, which comes with everything.  I received the starter set to review, and loved it so much that I have already ordered Sophie all the additional card sets (ok, fine Grandma ordered them for her birthday, but I ASKED her to!), so I think the Professional Set is a good investment!

Sophie and I are really loving playing with the U-Play Mat together.  Not only is she having fun, but we are working on goals that her speech therapist has set for her AND we are spending precious time together! She is always excited when I tell her it’s time to play with her U-Play cards!

The U-Play Mat can also be used with family photos, and I’m ordering up a bunch of our family snapshots to help Sophie work on her pronouns, and answering “who” questions.  That way I can ask her questions (and get answers!) about what the people she loves are doing in the pictures. Sophie LOVES to look at family pictures so I think this will be a lot of fun as well.

If you are considering purchasing the U-Play Mat, you should watch the video of it’s inventor, Dr. Jen, a Pediatrician and mom of two sets of twins, demonstrating how to use it.  It’s what sold me!

But first, you can enter to WIN a U-Play Mat starter set!!  I am so excited to be able to give one of these away to our readers!  Here’s how to enter.  Please note you MUST do one of the first two methods to have a chance to win.

1) “Like” Play This Way on Facebook and leave them a comment saying “I want to win a U-Play Mat from Mommin’ It Up!”

2) Follow @PLAYTHISWAY on Twitter and tweet “I want to win a U-Play Mat from @PLAYTHISWAY & @jennyitup & @momminitup!”

optional additional entry:

3) Leave a comment on this post telling me why you want to win a U-Play Mat!  (Remember you MUST enter by either method #1 or #2 for this extra entry to count!)

One winner will be chosen at random on Wednesday, October 20th. GOOD LUCK! I am so excited already for whoever wins!

I’m linking this post up to Things I Love Thursday at the Diaper Diaries.  Go visit to see what things everyone else is lovin’!

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I solicited and received a U-Play Mat starter set from Play This Way to review.  All the opinions on this post are my own!

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