It’s no secret that I am not the most organized person in the world. In fact, I loathe organizing. I love the end results from it, but I cannot stand the actual process of getting to the end point.

Having said that, I found some new ways to organize and decorate Jackson and Olivia’s rooms last week as I chatted with  design expert, Kelly Edwards. You may know Kelly from her show on HGTV  Design on a Dime, or on Style Network’s Tacky House. Well today, Kelly is going to share some of her inspiration with us for sprucing up our kids rooms and getting them a bit more organized — DIY style.

I love her idea of a locker for Jackson’s room — now if I could just find one!

DIY Projects for Your Kids Rooms

What DIY tips do you have to share about sprucing up kids’ rooms?

Written by Janice, co-founder of this Mom Blog 5 Minutes for Mom

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I get a little emotional talking about this two-wheel trailer bike designed for special needs riders – The Caboose Trailer Bike.

It’s one of those products that most of us don’t need. When I read the emails from customers – like Robert’s sister – whose lives have been changed because someone they love can now experience the thrill of riding a bike, I’m humbled by what I take for granted.

The Caboose is a stable, two wheel trailer bike that attaches to a regular bicycle. It is designed especially for children and adults who are not otherwise able to ride a bicycle.

These days I’m especially emotional about the bikes because supply is running out and we don’t know when — or even if — they will come back in stock.

Our Pedal Cars and Retro Collectibles store has been the exclusive retailer for these special needs trailer bikes for the last few years. We’ve seen hundreds of lives changed because of the bikes, but the manufacturer is running out of stock and we’re not sure when they’ll make more.

The Caboose lets kids and adults who have special needs finally experience the joy of riding a bike. We’ve heard from customers who have purchased the bike for family members who cannot ride a typical bicycle because of Down syndrome, Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Blindness or a host of other reasons.

The message is clear – The Caboose Trailer Bike changes lives.

The Caboose bike comes in two sizes: one for 5 to 10 year old children and another that fits children over 10 years old up to adults aged 95 or older. (The bike is perfect for elderly riders.)

These bikes are unique in many ways – especially in their low price. Most other special needs adapted bicycles are hugely expensive and out of most families’ budgets.

You can read more about the Caboose Trailer Bike here.

How Can You Help?

Since the Caboose is so unique, most families who could benefit from the bike unfortunately do not even know it exists.

Please spread the word to everyone you know about the Caboose Trailer Bikes so…

1. We can help families that need the bikes get one before they are gone.
2. We can show the manufacturer the demand and get them to produce more bikes.

If you know someone who can benefit from a Caboose Trailer Bike, please hurry.
Place your order right away so that you don’t miss out.

Please help change lives by Pinning, Tweeting and Sharing this post on Facebook.

Here’s to more family bikes rides!!!

When we were at Disney Social Media Moms Celebration, my Olivia made instant friends (in the airport actually!) with a little girl named Cassidy from Hong Kong. Cassidy’s mom, Maggie Tong, was just as sweet and friendly as her daughter and insisted on sending Olivia some clothes from her online store, Cotton Candy Kids.

When the box of clothes arrived, I was overwhelmed with Maggie’s generosity and the incredibly quality of the gorgeous girls’ clothes. Last week, I did a couple of photo shoots with Olivia modeling some of the clothes. (Olivia was wearing my favorite of all the items — a beautiful black dress — in my Tackle it Tuesday photo yesterday.)

I will show you more of the clothes soon, but for today’s Wordless Wednesday, I just had to share this shot of Olivia. She was demonstrating to her cousin Julia, how to do a “sassy” pose.

Thanks Maggie and Cassidy — the clothes are gorgeous and we had so much fun with you both!!!

Mom Bloggers (and Dad Bloggers too!) post a photo on your site, link up and find others… Wordless Wednesday is tons of fun. (And I know it says “wordless” but I just can’t bear to not write anything! If I had created it, I probably would have named it something different! LOL So feel to link up your word-full or word-less Wednesday photos!)

Leave the URL to your photo (clearly mine are never truly “wordless”) and then visit others!

Here is a fun thumbnail linky:

And here is a basic linky if you prefer your linkies the good old fashioned way!

Thanks to Uisce for creating Wordless Wednesday.

Written by Janice, co-founder of this Mom Blog 5 Minutes for Mom

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Have you ever watched a small child stack cans, blocks or building bricks? You can see the expression on the child’s face. That child is a picture of concentration. What is he thinking?

If I stack the blocks this way will the tower stay up?
If I stack the blocks that way will the tower fall?
Can I stack 3…4…5…6…or 10 blocks?
When will the tower fall down?

Learning truly does happen through play. I remember my oldest child stacking blocks at her grandmother’s house. She used the wooden blocks to create a road for her cars, a house for her dolls, even a tea set. She once even made a make believe bridge and walked on top of the blocks…she was little enough that her tiny feet fit perfectly on the flat wooden blocks. She loved that small cloth bag of blocks. So did her brother and sister and cousins.

Blocks allow for endless play and children learn through play. Blocks are the perfect toy to grow with your child. I recently received an enormous bucket o’ blocks from Back to Blocks. The bucket o’ blocks came in a box that became a playhouse for my son. He rolled around the kitchen in the box. Never seen a kid have so much fun until…he opened the bucket o’ blocks. Oh my, was he surprised with what he saw inside.

My son dug straight in to the blue bucket and pulled out handful after handful of blocks. Eventually he dumped the whole bucket on the floor. He was mesmerized by all the different shapes and sizes. He held piece after piece in his hands, examined the edges, placed one piece and then another, and yet another on top of each other. The pieces were long., flat, chunky, curved, archways, roof shaped, and many other shapes and size. It was more than a bucket o’ blocks, it was a bucket o’ fun!

Back to Blocks sent me the Wooden Block Set “Fun With Friends.” Blocks come in 20 different shapes and sizes and have over 160 pieces. The “Fun With Friends” retails for $110.99. The blocks are stored in a 5-gallon bucket — white, yellow, blue, and red.

Want to learn more about the Back To Blocks?

Search Back To Blocks for the perfect block toy.
Look for special offers on blocks.

Enter to win your Own Bucket of Fun from Back To Blocks

5 Minutes for Mom will be giving away a Fun with Friends Blockset. Use the Rafflecopter below to enter this giveaway. Remember that the more ways you enter, the better your chances are of winning.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
  I was sent the Fun With Friends set to facilitate my review. I was also compensated for this post. The views expressed in the post are my own. I follow the tenets of Blog With Integrity. 

Jill Berry @MusingsfromMe is a writer who stays at home or a SAHM who writes…it depends on the day and her mood. While playing a writer on the internet, Jill has the gray hair AND blogposts from raising a kid, a preteen, and a teen. When not blogging at Musings from Me, Jill seizes family time whenever she can…dinner as a family, movie night, marathon family game sessions, traveling…you name it she wants to do it.

My eight-year-old son had talked a lot about wanting to keep a diary. I thought that was a great idea, so I gave him a notebook as he requested, but he didn’t use it a whole lot. I’m still hoping to tap into that desire, because as I writer I know how therapeutic and inspiring and cathartic writing can be.

With two creative and artistic kids, I definitely thought that The Scribble Diary: My Brain Right Now by Lisa Currie could help them entertain themselves as they examine their days. This is a book that is a twist on a traditional diary — designed for all ages to be able to use.

Each two-page spread has a place to record events and feelings in a creative way, either writing or scribbling. Honestly, when I first looked at it, I wasn’t sure how it would really work in a practical way.

But my son LOVED it. He has used it consistently for the last week, even doing more than one entry during a day when he was feeling inspired. I even picked it up and left my own entry for him to discover.

So whether you want to encourage your child or teen to record their lives, or give them a creative activity for the summer or a long road trip, or create a fun family book, The Scribble Diary: My Brain Right Now is a unique way to do that.

We have TWO copies to give away today. Just leave a comment, and we’ll announce the winner in our 5 Minutes for Books column right here on June 4.

The winner of I Never Promised You a Goodie Bag is #46 Lori D.

When my kids were small, they loved MEGA Bloks.  We had more sets of them than I could count, and they’d spend hours building castles, walls as high as they could go, or anything else their imaginations came up with.  There are so many things I love about MEGA Bloks – the large pieces that are easy for little hands to manipulate, their ease in snapping together and pulling apart, the bright colors and variety of sets all make them a hit in my book.

My boys also loved dump trucks, piling up the bed with all kinds of cargo, pushing them across the room, and then dumping it out.  That’s why Steer-me Steve, the new dump truck from MEGA Bloks, is the perfect toy for preschoolers.

Your truck loving child can drive around with the Steer-me Steve Dump Truck by Mega Bloks and pretend he is a big rig driver himself. Steer-me Steve is perfectly designed for little hands to grip the steer along wheel as they drive through the house picking up the included blocks in the set as his cargo. Stack the blocks on the truck bed or carry them to a new location for construction – it’s all up to Steve and where your child takes him. Once Steer-me Steve and your child reach their destination, the dump truck bed empties the cargo with a simple lever pull. After Steve is empty, it is time to go find another load!

Steer-me Steve’s happy, smiling face encourages interaction with your child as they drive around looking for new building adventures!

• Easy grip plastic steer along steering wheel
• Quick pull lever to empty cargo
• Fun, colorful design
• Includes 7 big Maxi blocks
• Cheerful, friendly face

MEGA Bloks also has a fantastic Family Club that includes tutorials, a blog and other great features. Click on the above signup link to sign up for the MEGA Bloks newsletter.

Enter to win

We have a fantastic prize pack for one lucky winner.   To enter this giveaway, leave a comment below letting us know what your child’s favorite Mega Block Toy is.  This giveaway will end June 2, 2012.

The winner will receive:

Steer-Me-Steve
80 piece Big Building Bag
Build ‘n Learn Table
Small Tub Town Construction Site

I received Steer-me Steve to facilitate writing this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

This review was written by 5 Minutes for Books writer, Nancy. Nancy is the mom of 2 very active boys and in addition to working full time, she enjoys driving Mom’s Taxi and volunteering on various school and Cub Scout committees. She writes about her busy life at Life With My Boys and Books.

Summer is a time for fun in the sun. Whether it’s time in the pool or grilling out with friends we love to be outside. And don’t you want that time to be just as comfortable, stylish, and relaxed as the inside your home? I know I love the outdoors but I also like the idea of having that comfortable feeling outdoors.

BrylaneHome has just launched a new collection of outdoor furniture meant to help you create a cozy outdoor space. They have Outdoor Wood Furniture; Metal Bistro Table and Rattan Chairs; Extra Wide Outdoor Wooden Rocking Chair; Oversized Rectangular Gazebo; Jumbo Screened Gazebo; 9’ LED Patio Umbrella; Grass Skirt Patio Umbrella; and much more!  They provide stylish options for cushions and allow you to mix and match your items for a beautiful environment for you to relax and entertain in. They even have a Plus Size Living collection, specially designed for the plus size customer (holds up to 500 lbs).

BrylaneHome wants you to have functional outdoor furniture that also allows you to have a beautifully designed area outside. I think they have done an excellent job! I definitely want to go on a shopping spree!

Right now BrylaneHome is offering customers 15% off their entire order from now until 5/31/12 with coupon code BHPRESS15.

You can order anytime 24/7 by visiting  BrylaneHome.com.

Customers can also join the thousands of fans who are following BrylaneHome on its Facebook  and Twitter pages.  

Written by 5 Minutes for Mom contributing writer, Lesley. Lesley is a mom of two kids – one girl and one boy. She’s married to her first and only love, Robby. Author of Dragonflies ‘n Daydreams. Her blog has a little bit of everything – life, love, parenting, along with product reviews and giveaways.

I’m a little bit picky about what I feed my wee ones.  When they were small, I made all the baby food myself, partly because I like to cook and partly because I wanted to know exactly what they were eating and where it came from.  As they’ve gotten older, it’s gotten harder to limit what they eat for social reasons, but we still think twice about everything.  That’s part of the reason that I don’t often have the wee ones drink juice.  So many juice drinks are just that – “juice” from concentrate and too many other ingredients for my tastes.

Odwalla, makers of all sorts of “power” smoothies more attuned to grown-up tastes that I have loved for years and years, has recently come out with a new line of juices that are made from 100 percent not from concentrate juices.  They are available in three flavors, Strawberry Banana Jungle, Mango Pineapple Island, and Grape Berry Prairie.  I love that the juices not only have fun names to entice kids but also have flavors beyond the typical, helping to expose them to other yummy possibilities.  I know I’m lucky that Mister Man will fight for the right to the mango pit when I cut them up, but so many of my friends have kids who won’t eat most fruit because they’re afraid they won’t like it.  Introducing it in juice form is less scary, and I know one child who now eats pineapple all the time after finally being talked into trying pineapple juice.

The Odwalla Smoothies For Kids are the perfect size, too.  They are less than seven ounces apiece, so I don’t feel like I’m giving my child too much sugar.  I love that the juices are gluten free and that the ingredient list is short and clear, which makes it easy for me to figure out if one of the wee ones’ friends might be allergic to it.  I’m never fully comfortable wading through long ingredient lists when a child with an allergy is over because so many allergens have multiple names.  This one is easy.  And did I mention that it’s made with non-GMO fruits, too?  That’s another big plus in my book.

The biggest factor, of course, is the fact that the wee ones love it.  I let Little Miss have her first smoothie – we got to try the Strawberry Banana Jungle – after she finished her milk at dinner.  I have never seen her drink her milk so fast in her life.  The next night, her milk was  gone before I even finished serving dinner.  She had loved the smoothie so much the night before that she was convinced she’d get another one if she drank her milk again.  Mister Man was about as enthusiastic over the smoothie, although he is trying to convince me to go to the store – today – to buy the Mango Pineapple Island smoothies so he can “test those ones out for you, Mom.”

The smoothies are available nationally at stores from Target to Corner Bakery to Publix and more in the refrigerated section of the grocery area.  They can be purchased both individually and in four-pack bundles of a flavor.  With only 110-120 calories per box, this is a treat that will make its way into the wee ones’ lunch boxes periodically as a treat in place of their usual water.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received a sample of the Odwalla Smoothies for Kids for review purposes.  This was a compensated post; however, all opinions remain my own.

Written by 5 Minutes for Mom contributor Michelle who is grateful that the wee ones are good eaters – relatively – but is always grateful to find a “healthy” version of a treat.  You can see what Michelle is cooking up on her blog Honest & Truly! where she posts new recipes each Tuesday or follow her on Twitter where she is @HonestAndTruly.

Jennifer here –

I love giving gift cards to the family members who live further away from me. I have a sister-in-law whom I love dearly that lives in Texas and with me living all the way in Kentucky, I can’t shop for her and the family like I want to. So how do I handle that?

I use websites like Cashstar to help me purchase e-gift cards to send to them through e-mail.

Cashstar powers eGift Cards for over 250 top retailers and many of our brands are offering special promotions for Mother’s Day. Did you know that Mother’s day is the second most popular holiday for eGifting after Christmas?  And, according to a recent survey conducted by CashStar, almost as many mothers indicated that they would most want to receive a personalized eGift or gift card for Mother’s Day as compared to the traditional gift of flowers.

Some of my favorite retailers are having awesome Mother’s Day sales and we wanted to make sure that you knew about it. You can purchase egift cards from:

• Old Navy
• GAP
• Banana Republic
• Levy Restaurants
• Dell
• Territory Ahead
• CHEFS Catalog
• Uno
• Jockey
• Not Your Average Joe’s

I am a handbag person. I really am. I love bags in all shapes and sizes. In fact, my husband rolls his eyes every time I get a new one, whether I bought it or it was a gift. But one thing I have never really loved is the diaper bag. Believe me, I tried to love it. I mean hello? I needed that bag right!? I just had to have one. Or three. But as time wore on and my son (and now sons) got a little bit older, I realized I didn’t actually need the whole diaper bag.

I was thrilled to return to using my purse, but I have to admit even I sometimes wish I had a better system. On the days when I have both boys and we are out with bottles and sippy cups and diapers and pacifiers, I get a little overwhelmed.

Pish Posh Mommy is exactly the solution I was looking for. I had high hopes for their Quick Zip Carryall, and those high hopes were met when I received my bag. The carryall is a fabulous accessory for moms who don’t want to lug around a diaper bag! You can put as much or as little as you like into this bag and just drop it in your purse. Everything stays together nice and neat.

My carryall is a great quality, solid cotton fabric with nylon lining. There are so many inner and outer pockets, I am still trying to think of ways to fill them! It is a roomy bag at 10inches wide by 9inches high, but it is perfect for dropping in my bucket bag while keeping everything together.

Pish Posh Mommy has a variety of bags for your diapering needs that range in size from the largest carryall, which is the one I have, to the adorable diaper clutch. And I think the clutch is cute enough to use even after the kids are out of diapers! I love it when a great idea meets great design, don’t you?

Save on your purchase of a Pish Posh Mommy Item

Right now, you can save 25% off your purchase of any Pish Posh Mommy item using the code 5MM25. This code is good through the end of May (5/31/12).

Visit Pish Posh Mommy on

• PishPosh Mommy on Facebook
• PishPosh Mommy on Twitter
• PishPosh Mommy on Pinterest
  

I was sent a Carryall to try. All opinions remain my own.

Written by 5 Minutes for Mom contributing writer Andrea Updyke.