Li'l Woodzeez - Our New Favorite Friends!

We were provided with free product to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are our own.

We always keep our eyes open for products that really mesh with our family - things that will be loved well and used well, and things that we can't wait to share with our friends... and at this time of year, the type of things that we think you will for sure want to add to your gift-giving lists!

We are so excited to introduce to you our new favorite friends - Li'l Woodzeez!

Li'l Woodzeez are the most precious little animal friends. They are manufactured and designed by Battat. According to their website, they come from Honeysuckle Hollow where all the woodland creatures work together to take care of each other and their environment. There are several families in Honeysuckle Hollow and we've invited a few into our home this fall.

I'm pleased to introduce you to the Hoppingood Rabbit Family...

and the Waterwaggle Beaver Family!

Just like my kindergartener, these friends have been keeping busy at the Honeysuckle Schoolhouse with Mimi and Benjamin Handydandy from the Mouse Family.

There is nothing not to love about these little friends. They are adorable with sweet little details like pink bellies on the rabbits and flat tails on the beavers. They are soft, posable, and have removable and interchangeable clothing. They encourage imaginative play, foster positive values, and once you have one family, you're going to want to collect them all!

The Li'l Woodzeez family sets each come with a sweet book that tells about their adventures as they fulfill their role in the community. For instance, the Hoppingood Rabbit Family are farmers and the Waterwaggle Beaver Family runs a launderette! Everyone has an important job and every day is full of adventure - just like in our family, and I'm sure yours too!

The Honeysuckle Schoolhouse swings open and closed, is great for storage of animals and accessories, and is totally portable. The doors open and close and it even has a swing! As I mentioned earlier, The Honeysuckle Schoolhouse comes with Mimi and Benjamin from the Handydandy Mouse Family.

The Honeysuckle Schoolhouse does not come with furniture or accessories but these can be purchased separately in the Classroom & Playground Set. In this set you'll find the sweetest things including a chalkboard, abacus, desk, lunch boxes, books, a slide, seesaw, and even a graduation cap and gown! It's a 20-piece set and our kindergartener loves the adventures she can create with these additions to the Schoolhouse.

Just like in people-school, the Li'l Woodzeez enjoy both classroom learning...

and fun on the playground!

Li'l Woodzeez are high quality, creative, adorable, affordable, and make great gifts - for your own family or for a friend! You can find them at your local Target store or online at either Target or Amazon.

We truly love the Li'l Woodzeez and can't wait to continue adding to our collection of families, houses, and accessories. We are looking forward to having an entire town of Li'l Woodzeez soon! We love to play with them, read about them, and imagine what it would be like to really live in Honeysuckle Hollow with our animal friends.

You can view all of the products offered in the Li'l Woodzeez line on their website. Check them out - these should be considered a must-have on your next birthday, special occasion, or holiday shopping list!

Battat is a family-run business based in Montreal, Canada, and Plattsburgh, NY, that has been making family-focused products for over 100 years. Through innovative thinking, unique design and a steadfast commitment to safety and reliability, Battat has created some of the world's favorite toys.

FREE Learning Apps for Kids and Printable Worksheets - Kids Academy on Google Play & iTunes

This blog has partnered with Mom Buzz Media to announce this exciting information!

Kids Academy Releases Preschool Education Center 

for iOS and Android!

We are always excited to see updates from Kids Academy, a great maker of fun educational apps with lots of kid-appeal. The only thing we've ever been disappointed with in these apps is that there weren't more activities to keep us busy with them for longer. Our kindergarten is always a fan of the fun graphics, music, activities, and learning that happens with Kids Academy.

The Preschool Education Center is an all-in-one educational app created for children and toddlers by the team at Kids Academy! With already over 10 million downloads worldwide, they have just released a long-awaited update to this amazing app! The app is designed to cover all aspects of early childhood education. Children learn about the alphabet, reading, writing, building vocabulary and even developing math skills. Based on the proven Montessori method, the Preschool Education Center app offers a number of fun games that help master essential learning skills through play, making learning fun!

We gave this new and improved app a try today and my daughter was very pleased to see some new activities to enjoy! These are four categories of free educational activities - Reading, Writing, Math, and Library, with 8 separate games. You'll have access to more with a paid account. As always with Kids Academy, we love the characters, voices, graphics, music, and overall fun. My daughter's favorite part was listening to and reading along with the story of Cinderella.

Until now, Preschool Education Center has only been available on iTunes but now it is finally available for Android devices on Google Play! This fun and free app is currently being featured in the Family section of the Android store in the USA, Australia and Canada.

For iOS Devices:

Kids Academy has also updated the iOS version of the app: Preschool & Kindergarten Early Learning Games adding new games, books, and educational cartoons and shows as well as printable worksheets.

BONUS! Free Preschool & Kindergarten Worksheets for Kids!

Kids Academy is also finding a way to expand beyond the screen and help master pen and pencil with free printable worksheets. You can get free preschool worksheets on a variety of subjects from alphabet to math and the library is updated often! Download, print out and get start practicing with good old fashioned pencil and paper in seconds!

Head over to Kids Academy 

and get your FREE PRINTABLE WORKSHEETS!

Celebrate Halloween with Oriental Trading

We received free product to facilitate this review. No other compensation was received.

All opinions expressed are our own.

Fall is one of my favorite times of year and I think one reason is that decorating for the season is just so fun! I typically start my decorating in November but this year I started in early October with the help of Oriental Trading and their fantastic assortment of Halloween decorations!

Oriental Trading has everything you need to kick off your Halloween season. Whether you're looking for crafts, indoor or outdoor decorations, candy, favors, costumes, or accessories, Oriental Trading is your one-stop-shop!

Because my daughter is young, I wanted to stick with Halloween decorations that were cute but not scary or gory and The Pumpkin Express Train was a perfect fit! With adorable characters and details and a sweet fall and Halloween theme, we fell in love with this little train as soon as we took it out of the box. Teddy bears, ghosts, and kitties and pumpkins - you really can't help but smile when you see this, right?

I'm also a fan of classic decorations and love decor that will last me beyond one holiday and work for the whole season. These Orange Metal Lanterns are beautiful. They come as a set of two, with candles sold separately. I ordered two Square Flameless Candles to use inside them. With two AA batteries (not included), these real wax LED candles flicker like the real thing! They make a lovely addition to our fireplace area, but my plan is to move them outside to the front steps on Halloween to help light the way for our trick-or-treaters! These will decorate our living room throughout the fall season.

Regardless of the season and decor, we always save room around here for homemade decorations! Oriental Trading has an enormous assortment of crafts and DIY projects for both adults and kids. My daughter was thrilled with this sweet Halloween Owl Ornament Craft Kit. In fact, I was just as pleased! These little owls come in a set of a dozen individually packaged kits with adhesive foam pieces and instructions to create your own adorable owl friend. We made several of these to add to our decorations and also used them as a group craft at a pajama party with several other kindergarten girls. They were a huge hit with everyone!

Needless to say, Halloween is not Halloween without a good assortment of candy. While you're online shopping for your decor and crafts at Oriental Trading, you might as well pick up some trick-or-treat candy too! Whether you're looking for name brand or novelty candy, you'll find it. This Wrigley's Grab Bag Candy Assortment had a little (or shall I say a lot) of everyone in our family's favorites.

This was our first year shopping with Oriental Trading for Halloween, but it certainly won't be our last. With a huge assortment of Halloween related items - over 400 new items live on the website right now - you're sure to find whatever you're looking for during this fun and festive season! And shopping from the comfort of your own home? Well, in my opinion, that can't be beat!

Oriental Trading is giving away $250 in Halloween products of your choice weekly! Visit www.spooktaculargiveaway.com today and enter to win! Plus, they're giving away a $25 gift card every day! Contest ends October 17, 2015, so get your entries in today! Good luck!