Get 'em Talkin'!

When I was a kid, every night my mom made dinner and we sat around the dinner table and talked. My dad talked about his day at work, my mom talked about her day organizing the next school function or fundraiser, and I would tell them what I learned in school that day. For our family, talking was natural. However, some families are quieter than others, or need a little prompting to get a conversation going. If this sounds like your family, then Family Talk would be a great purchase for you. It gives you awesome, open ended questions that anyone could answer, and more importantly, it paves the way for more in-depth discussions. Questions like "What makes you feel most welcomed when you get home?", and "What worries you most?" are included in the stack. Plus, they are all connected on a really cool carabiner clip, so they can go anywhere you do! I'm planning on hooking them onto the backpack that I take with us to Europe -- it would provide a fun distraction in the airport or on the train for my students.

You can order Family Talk, Family Talk 2, or Grandparent Talk from Around the Table Games for $12.95. If you enter the code CSCFMT at checkout, you'll get Free Shipping!

Rockin' the Ribbies

The other day I was in the pediatrician's office, hovering between the well baby side and the sick room (we were there for a re-check and I was not about to bring my newly well baby into the sick room, y'know?) and in walked this sweet little girl with her mom. She was decked out in this nautical outfit, and had pretty blonde curly hair. However, I have no clue what her face looked like, because a red, floppy bow the size of TEXAS was smack on top of her head. Seriously, it was giant, people -- it probably had it's own zip code. I kept thinking to myself that the bow took away from this pretty little girl, and maybe, just maybe, her mom should consider a smaller one?

Right.

But here is the problem -- most bows are, uh, large. Even the small ones look big in Little AG's hair. And the little ones have no style. They are boring and simple. Plus, if she even suspects that I put one of those ribbon-covered things near her head, she rips it out and hands it back.

So, what's a momma to do? Well, Ribbies has a solution, and one that I really like. Their clippies are covered in modern and chic ribbon patterns in a variety of color groups. No loops, no ties, no bouncing curly-looking ribbons. I love that they are pretty but don't take over Little AG's face, as it should be! They are really light and I managed to slip one into her hair without her even noticing! After that it was smooth sailing, and she wore it for hours! It doesn't slide out because it has this awesome foam piece underneath that keeps it in place, so once it was in, it wasn't moving! They do their job well, and fashionably, too.

We were able to review two of the gift sets, thanks to owner Kim Marable -- one in Black (pictured on the left) and one in Orange. Each set came with 5 different clips that were still a part of the same color family. They are all precious and I can't even choose a favorite pattern! The one that you see all the way to the left matched my daughters outfit perfectly so that is the one we chose for today. The gift sets are really inexpensive in my opinion, at $14 for 5 different clips.

The icing on the cake for me is that this is a mom-owned and operated company, and I always like to support products that other moms have come up with! However, Ribbies is definitely taking off (hello Target shoppers!) because of their fun and practical design!

Want it? Kim is offering CSC readers 10% of their Ribbies orders through June 15th! Just enter code CSC10 on the last page during check out!