We passed out a Silly Bandz to the kids in the Dominican Republic. The kids loved these cheap little bracelets. The kids with us on the trip had fun passing them out to the little ones.

Though, Hannah, was a little afraid that their would be a Silly Bandz war break out between the children. We didn’t witness it if there was.

Now, back home in the United States, my own kids are obsessed with Silly Bandz. I think most of the kids are. At the end of the school,
Silly Bandz became such a distraction to school children, the elementary school had to ban them from school.

My youngest son, who just turned 6 has been begging me to take them to Gas America to buy Silly Bandz. Apparently, this is the place in town where they sell them.

So today, after weeks of begging, I took him there with this $10 in graduation money from Grandma. They were sold in packs of 24 for $2.99. He was able to buy 3 packs and was sweet enough to let his little sister buy a pack of Princess Silly Bandz.

Are you kids as obsessed with Silly Bandz as mine?

April Shower brings May Flowers!

So far this April has been fairly dry in Indiana. However, when it starts raining, Eli is now equipped with the ultimate rain gear set inspired by one of his favorite super heroes, Batman. Hey, it doesn’t even have to be raining, this outfit is cool just to play dress up.

Washington Shoe Company and Warner Brothers have teamed up to bring this Batman-themed collection, which is sold at Nordstrom and specialty shops nationwide.

First of all, I was extremely impressed with the quality and detail of the entire set. Eli had a blast playing with it inside! What little boy could resist this umbrella!

The coolest part is the removable cape. It can be worn without or without the rain coat. Even better, the logo glows in the dark! Perfect for kids who have to stand at a bus stop.

The boots can be worn year round. My kids have this odd habit of wanting to go all Britney Spears on me and wearing their boots with shorts.

The downside is the price. Retail prices are $36.95 boots, $16 umbrella, and $50 for the raincoat. My bargain tip: Ask Grandma!

The Batman-themed collection of rainwear by Washington Shoe Company, a leading manufacturer of footwear and fashion raingear, is geared towards kids and juniors and will retail at $36.95 for the boots, $16 for the umbrella and $50 for the raincoat. Boot sizes range from child’s size 5-13 and youth sizes 1-4. Raincoats are available from size 2T to 6X. The line features a removable cape which can be worn with or without the raincoat and glow in the dark logos so the little Super Heroes are safe even on the rainiest days.

Bargain Briana Disclosure: Team Mom sent us this product to try out and share with you. Post was written 100% by me and was not edited by the sponsor. Read more on my Disclosure Policy.

Before I left for BlogHer last month, Mom Select sent over a new playset for my kids to enjoy while I was gone called Zhu Zhu Pets. Basically, Zhu Zhu Pets is a hamster playset without having a real hamster to deal with. It was an instant hit with all of my kids. To hear my oldest daughter, who is eleven years old, giggle about a t0y, made me giggle.

Zhu Zhu Pets is a set of interconnecting play sets. You can add on more sets as you build your hamster play ground. Once you connect your sets, you simple turn on your hamster and let him go or “let him be” as my daughter says. The kids have named our hamster “Bugsy.”

Its much easier to understand just by watching:

Since these pictures and video, we’ve added a few more sets to our collection.It really is fun and since I will never allow my kids to have any pets in the house even a fish, this is the closest they will get to the real thing!

We were given the opportunity to try Piano for Preschoolers this month. Since my older daughter was given a keyboard a few years back I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to introduce my younger kids to music. I loved playing the piano as a child and hope my child will as well.

The system is a great introduction to the very basics and gives children the confidence to encourage them to continue. It is fun and easy and requires no musical background on behalf of the parents. Even though I used to play as a child, I’ve forgotten many simple things so it was easy for me to help them.

It is so simple to start, you place a color strip on your piano or keyboard and your child matches up the colored notes on the page to the colors on the keyboard. The songs are all familiar songs like my almost three year old’s favorite – Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

It is also economical. Piano lessons from a professional are expensive and time consuming. The Piano for Preschooler’s system starts at just $39.95. As I was looking on their site, I’m excited about the Holiday book for $14.95. Holiday songs are my favorite. This would also be a good music program for people who home school their children or just want some activities to keep their little minds developing.

P.S. I’m going to try to use my flip video camera to get some videos of them using this. I will post later.

(Thanks Parent Reviewers for the opportunity to review Piano for Preschoolers!)