Madeline Giveaway

One of the best things about having having kids is being able to share the things that you loved as a child with them. I remember reading about the “twelve little girls in two straight lines” who lived in Paris under the watchful eye of the benevolent Miss Clavel… the Madeline books were utterly charming and are still timeless today. It's hard to believe that Ludwig Bemelmans' beloved character is 70 this year!



Bemelmans' grandson is carrying on the family legacy with the first new Madeline book in nearly 50 years. Madeline and the Cats of Rome find Miss Clavel and her charges escaping the dreary drizzle of Paris for the bright skies of Rome. The story and artwork are very true to the original series and I was pleased to be able to share it with Roo.



Award-winning toy company Kids Preferred has launched a special collection to celebrate Madeline's 70th birthday. There are plush versions of Madeline and Genevieve, plus additional outfits and my personal favorite, the Talking Madeline Doll (a Toys R Us exclusive!).



This huggably-soft 17" Talking Madeline Doll says four phrases in both French and English. Roo's kindergarten class is learning French so it seemed like a particularly auspicious time to introduce her to Madeline. She likes practicing her French with Madeline and she has already surpassed the horrible accent I learned as a freshman in college. (Roo suffers the same brain lapse in the video below that I had in an oral exam cassette I came across recently… eek!)



To enter and win your own Talking Madeline Doll, please comment on this post with your favorite Madeline memory.


Entries will be accepted through December 2nd and I'll pick the winner using Random.org. US readers are eligible.


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Make sure you leave an email address in your comment or that you have one accessible on your blog so you can be contacted if you win!



Disclosure: we received a free copy of Madeline and the Cats of Rome and a Talking Madeline Doll to facilitate this review and giveaway, mes amis.

***Click Giveaways on my sidebar to see what else you could win!***

Enlighten Up!

I've always been fairly skeptical about yoga, primarily because of my inherent aversion to sweating but also because the trendy new age vibe kind of creeped me out– there is something decidedly un-punk rock about carrying a mat into a room full of lycra-clad meditating folks. Well, my pal Hannah (who happens to be the mom of three girls under 4 and a hot-to-trot personal trainer) finally coerced me into taking some yoga classes a couple of months ago and I was surprised at how much I loved it, both from a physical and mental perspective.

Enlighten Up! is a film showing another skeptic's serious immersion into the world of yoga. Journalist Nick Rosen was chosen to be documentary filmmaker Kate Churchill's "guinea pig"- a novice yogi who could partake in various practices around the globe while trying to define the elusive "it" that yoga provides to its proponents: spiritual enlightenment, physical fitness or something else entirely. Kate wants to see Nick transformed by yoga the way she has been and the pair visit celebrity yogis and exalted gurus, busy urban practices and laid back devotees.



I won't tell you what Nick and Kate conclude in Enlighten Up! but suffice it to say that yoga is different for everyone who practices it. This is certainly the case among the very different teachers they visit, each of whom has a very different outlook on yoga and what to expect from the practice. Interviewees include B.K.S. Iyengar, Pattabhi Jois, Norman Allen, Sharon Gannon, David Life, Gurmukh, Dharma Mitra, Cyndi Lee, Alan Finger, Rodney Yee, Beryl Bender Birch, Shyamdas, and many more! One of the more light-hearted yogis profiled is Diamond Dallas Page, an ex-pro wrestler who discovered yoga after suffering multiple injuries in the ring and created his own method: Yoga for Regular Guys. Hilarious, if not entirely politically correct…



Enlighten Up! is available everywhere on DVD starting November 10, 2009.

Disclosure: I received a copy of Enlighten Up! on DVD so I could let you know what I think about it. Go take a yoga class and let me know what you think. If you're near Wichita, these yoga classes are only $5 with no contract to sign. Heated floors, dude. Nice.

Moxie Girlz

Looking for a fashion doll that is trendy enough to appeal to your fashion-conscious daughter but also not quite as, umm, street-savvy as a certain brand that features tattoo parlors and tropical drinks among their themes. (You know what I'm talking about, moms!) Meet Moxie Girlz, doe-eyed leggy beauties who espouse positive attitudes, confidence and courage. Their outfits are funky but modest and age-appropriate to the girls who will be playing with them. No crazy high heels or freaky lingerie to worry about with Moxie Girlz; they're more interested in bicycles or skateboards and tricking out their outfits with custom markers. Roo likes her new pal, Lexa! She plays guitar and rocks a flowing lavender wig that ended up on one of Jasper's robots.



Disclosure: we received a Moxie Girlz doll to review. She has very pretty hair (I wish mine was so mermaid-like!) and no bad attitude, as far as we could tell. Roo would like to receive several more Moxie Girlz, just to make sure.

Meet Norman Phartephant

I had some misgivings about agreeing to review a stuffed toy called Norman PhartEphant, a cuddly elephant plushie that farts when you squeeze his tail. (Eight distinct phart sounds!) Having a five year old and a two year old guarantees that we talk about bodily functions about a million times more per day than I would really deem necessary… but still, he looked pretty cute (just look at that plaintive gaze…), so I said "okay, bring on the PhartEphant."






Can you tell just how much Jasper loves his new pal, Norman PhartEphant? Surprisingly, Roo felt a bit too mature for the likes of him and said that Jasper could keep him after giving him the sniff test. I kid you not! I've caught her pushing the button on several occasions, though her little brother delights in chasing her around the house with him. Kind of like a stampeding elephant…

Norman PhartEphant is available online and has his own picture book and coloring book coming out this week! A portion of Norman PhartEphant sales are donated to childrens' charities Smile Train, which provides cleft palate surgery for kids in developing nations, and Half the Sky, which provides help for special needs orphans in China.

Disclosure: We received Norman PhartEphant free of charge in order to write this review, however the deep, abiding love Jasper feels for him could not be bought. Well, maybe with a LOT of robots. But no one offered us any.

Win a Kindle from Noobie!

I just entered a contest to win a free Kindle from Noobie (worth $259!) and I wanted you to have a chance to win one too!

All you need to do to enter is to click the button below: