Vitacost

I finally decided to give Vitacost a try.  I've seen it mentioned on several blogs, and had never paid attention.  I was pleasantly surprised at the prices and selection.  For $40.81 I got all this shipped straight to my door:

Maranatha Organic Peanut Butter (x3)   $5.87
Organic Bay Leaves   $5.12
Organic Breakfast Tea   $2.82
Organic Brown Rice Pasta (x2)   $3.80
Weleda Arnica Massage Oil   $14.35 (a splurge, but very helpful for pregnancy aches and pains)
Organic Worcestershire Sauce   $3.31
minus $10 off my first order!

These prices are cheaper than I have been able to find elsewhere.  Organic peanut butter has been $7.99 at Meijer lately, so I was happy to stock up on this.  Shopping at Vitacost was like shopping my local health food store, only with better prices, free shipping, and no dragging kids out in the snow.  :)  I'll definitely be ordering again.  In fact, they emailed me a coupon for 5% off my next order.

To get $10 off of your first order at Vitacost, use this link.  (I get $10 too if you sign up, but I definitely wouldn't be promoting this if it wasn't worth it!)  I'm thankful for such great shopping options, especially at 32 weeks pregnant.  Conserving my energy and saving a bit off of my grocery bill is great.

Other things on my shopping list for next time include: Emergen-C, Redmond Real Salt Organic Garlic Salt, Earth Mama Angel Baby products, and more.  You can create and save a shopping list at Vitacost as well, which comes in handy.  If you order, let me know what deals you find!  :)

Craft Idea: Paint with Q-tips

My girls received this fun set of paints for Christmas:

The first time we used them, I spent all of my time washing paintbrushes.  These are not watercolors, so I had to go to the sink and thoroughly wash each brush and dry it when the girls wanted to change paint colors.  Today, I had a wonderful idea: paint with q-tips!

We used the paints and q-tips for our lesson on seasons (green dots for spring leaves, green and pink dots for summer leaves and flowers, red orange and yellow dots for fall leaves, and white dots for winter snow).  The girls then decided to make their own pictures:

I am much happier about letting the girls paint with these, knowing I won't have to clean out 100 brushes!

One of my favorite homeschool mom meeting topics is one where we all share random tips like this.  I'm thinking about hosting a Homeschool Help Thursday feature, kind of like Kitchen Tip Tuesday, except this would be any and all tips for homeschool moms.  Is anyone interested?  Would you have tips to share on your blog and link up?  Let me know what you think.

The After Christmas Toy Awards

After all of my obsessing and shopping for the perfect Christmas gifts, its always interesting to see what ends up getting the most use.  Here are a few of our most loved:

Lucy's Favorite: Twilight Ladybug - Julia already had the Twilight Turtle, and Lucy was thrilled to get the ladybug for Christmas.  With the girls sleeping in bunk beds now, having two twilight animals works well.  They are in use every single night without fail, definitely worth getting.

Julia's Favorite: Both girls really like their cameras.  This is the 2010 model that was on sale for $20 at Toys R Us on Black friday.  Julia isn't quite as adept at using the controls and finding the features on it, but Lucy has it figured out and shows Julia what to do.  They have both taken some adorable photos.

(As a side note, there are two simple video games on the camera, totally unrelated to picture taking.  We don't have video game systems for the girls and I was surprised that the games were on this camera.  I suppose its fairly harmless, but seems unnecessary.  Otherwise we do really enjoy the cameras.)

Esther's Favorite: She is in love with this little ladybug beanie that Lucy got her!

Mommy's Favorite: Playmobil 123 House - Esther has played for hours with this set already.  I like that the furniture kind of snaps onto the grid and doesn't slide around too much.  Its very toddler friendly and perfect for Esther, although all three girls enjoy playing with it.  Another nice feature is that the sides fold up and the furniture stores inside.

Mommy's Not So Favorite: Playmobil Animal Feeding Station  - I got this on sale for $10, but there are way too many tiny pieces in this set.  I'm not sure what I was thinking.

Best Inexpensive Gift: Melissa and Doug Sticker Books - All three girls got one of these sticker sets.  There are a ton of stickers in each pad and some very fun designs.

Best Book: Esther just got this one for her birthday.  It has a ton of animal names that the girls think are fun to read, "bush baby", etc.

What were your favorite kid Christmas gifts this year?

Fun Felt! (and a Giveaway)

We recently discovered a great new toy that any little girl would love - felt dress-up dolls!  My girls were thrilled to receive a package of dolls, clothes, and a camping background set to review from Story Time Felts.

I am extremely impressed with the color and quality of these.  All of the designs are bright and clear, and they are soft.  They don't feel painted or like the printing will rub off at all.

The dolls are thick and sturdy enough that the girls can hold them and play with them.  You can kind of see in this picture how thick they are:

Each of the sets comes with a number of outfits and accessories, enough to entertain my girls for quite some time.  I love all of the detail on each piece!

The camping background set is very durable and stands up on its own:

Again, I love all of the attention to detail!  A fire, a marshmallow roasting stick, and even smores to feed the dolls.  The set definitely has all of the pieces we need to make up stories and pretend play.

We haven't tried it yet, but the dolls and clothes are washable.  Story Time Felts offers plenty of other sets - math, science, activity books, story based sets, and more.  Its great to see the girls fine motor skills at work as they enjoy these sets.  I love how open it leaves everything to their imaginations.  Of course, I checked, and these are made with non-toxic dyes right here in the US.

Would you like to win a set?  One person will receive a boy and girl doll set and a set of clothes, winner's choice!  To enter the giveaway you may do any of the following:  (Please leave a separate comment for each entry.  Also, leave an email address so that I can contact you.)
- like Fun Felt on Facebook
- browse the website and tell me your favorite item
- follow my blog or email subscribe
- share about this giveaway on Facebook or your blog
You may do any or all of these, for a possible 4 entries.  The giveaway will close on January 28th at midnight.  Good luck!

*Now closed.  Congrats Susan - fjvsusan...!*