A Valentine's Day Gift With Staying Power

Have you seen the crush of red and pink filling stores recently? I've never been one for pink, so I try to avoid the aisles of cheaply made stuffed animals, boxes of chocolates I've never heard of, and lots of perfumes that would make your nose hairs retreat.

In other words, a bunch of stuff you're likely to throw away months from now.

If you're looking for a gift that won't be forgotten by July 4, look no further than Planet Jill and their collection of beautiful photo jewelry. They have photo lockets, pendants, bracelets, and keychains - all elegant and available in a choice of silver or gold.

I wore my 2-piece engraved photo locket necklace to Blissdom this weekend, and I can't count the number of times people noticed my necklace and commented on how lovely it was. The photo I chose for this locket was of Cordy and Mira at Christmas, and I loved having that happy image so close to me while I was so far away from them.

If you have a guy who spends a lot of time on the road or at work, Planet Jill's keychain or cufflinks might be the perfect gift to remind him of his favorite people back at home.

Planet Jill also features home and office photo gifts, including trinket boxes, letter openers, magnets, and paperweights.

I can't say enough how much I love this necklace. The folks at Planet Jill took care of everything - all I had to do was e-mail them a photo and the initial to go on my locket. They took care of making the photo black & white and editing it to look best in the frame.

Planet Jill is offering readers $10 off your order by using the code mommyblog when checking out. Even if you've already got that Valentine's Day present all picked out, it's never too early to start shopping for Mother's Day, right?

With SavvySource, You'll Always Have Something To Do

I've already been promoting my new gig at SavvySource, Being Savvy Columbus, but you may not know about the other features of SavvySource. Aside from the city guides, SavvySource also offers preschool recommendations and a chance to rate your preschool. But by far one of the coolest parts of the SavvySource website is the SavvyQuiz and recommended activities as a result of that quiz.

You might have noticed the little SavvyQuiz widget in the sidebar. Clicking on it will start you through a long quiz about where your child is at developmentally. (Don't worry, if you can't finish the quiz in one sitting, you have the option to save and pick up where you left off.) You'll answer questions about your child's ability to do things for himself, number recognition, language abilities, musical recognition, gross and fine motor skills, and more.

Once you finish the SavvyQuiz, you'll receive a customized report showing you your child's strengths and where your child is developmentally compared to preschoolers in general. Best of all, each section has a link to SavvyPicks, where you'll receive a personalized learning guide featuring activities recommended for your child's level of development. These picks include recommended books and toys that can be purchased, or activities created by both experts and parents like you.

I'm a big fan of the SavvyQuiz because Cordy's abilities are all over the map. Cognitively she's sharp and needs to be challenged, but she lags behind in social skills and some gross and fine motor movements. The activities recommended to me are never too easy for her, but provide the right level of challenge to keep her interested and learning. Best of all - the quiz and many of the activities are completely free! The only cost is if you choose to purchase any of the toys or books recommend for your child.

As an example of one of the recommended toys, I was sent the Leapfrog Tag Reading System to try out. If you haven't seen this, it's an electronic pen that goes with a series of books that are designed to work with the pen. When you purchase a compatible book, you can download the book's contents into the pen, and then the magic begins. Your child can then "read" the book on her own with the help of the Tag pen. The pen can be touched to an image to read the entire page out loud, or if your child is already in the beginning stages of reading, she can touch individual words to be read the word, or select to sound out the word.

Knowing that I love cool gadgets, this has to be one of the coolest kids' gadgets around! I enjoy reading books to Cordy, but I don't always have the time to do so. Now she can take the Tag pen and let the pen help her read a book. The pen is chunky and easy for little hands to hold, and so far I have yet to see it not recognize something on the page. (Another cool feature? You can touch the characters in the illustration on the facing page and each character will speak the words they say in that page of the story.)

I'll admit I'm biased, since I work for SavvySource, but I really do believe that their activities and recommended products are high quality and worth a look, and the SavvyQuiz is an incredibly useful tool. I've used several of the activities recommended for Cordy, many of which are quickly becoming favorite games in our house. She loves the Counting Beans activity, where we sort and count dried beans into different cups.

The widget is also something you can have on your blog! The Parent Bloggers Network is looking for more people to spread the word about SavvySource and earn a little money in the process by displaying the widget. If you think this is something you'd like for your blog, leave a comment here with your blog name and I'll let them know you're interested in participating in the widget advertisement.

Send a Yummy Message With Fruit Roll-Ups

Edited to add: This contest is now closed. Congrats to the winner, janny226!

As a child of the 80's (well, born in the 70's, but went to elementary school in the early 80's), I remember Fruit Roll-Ups well. I always wanted one in my lunch bag each day. I loved how one side was rough, and the side against the plastic was so smooth. That smooth side was always the side you placed against your tongue - I'm sure it had more flavor.

Fruit Roll-Ups have come a long way since their launch in 1983. Back then there were, what, four flavors? Now they come in lots of flavors and shapes and cut outs and stamped designs and rainbows. It's amazing how much you can do with rolled out fruit paste.

Now you can add messenger to the list of Fruit Roll-Up accomplishments. The Parent Bloggers Network asked me if I wanted to try the new My Fruit Roll-Ups website and try making my own custom designs, and of course I said yes! It's probably been 10 years since I ate one, so I was only too happy to try this out.

The My Fruit Roll-Ups site has cute little animated characters walking you through how to customize your snack. They have a huge assortment of designs that can be applied to your Fruit Roll-up, in several different pattern combinations. There are animals, sports, hobbies, holiday icons, and general party images to choose from.

But if you want to really personalize it, you can also add text, in one of four fonts. There are so many ways to customize Fruit Roll-Ups with this option. Got a child's birthday coming up? Have them say Happy Birthday with your child's name printed on the fruit snack. Teaching your child to recognize her name? Print them on her fruit snack, along with her favorite animal. The possibilities are endless.

(And sure, you could use them for wedding favors, but I'd think you must really like them to do that. Or are planning an 80's pop culture themed wedding.)

The design process is extremely simple, with instant viewing of your Fruit Roll-Up as you click each image or enter text. It's easy enough that a computer savvy preschooler could do most of the designing herself. In our case, I did the clicking, but I let Cordy pick out the designs. She wanted a butterfly, a ladybug, and a dragonfly, so we used the three image option to create her perfect design.

Ordering is just as easy, with a checkout system that guides you through the process. Yes, these are more expensive than your regular box of Fruit Roll-Ups. But for a special occasion or a reward for your preschooler, they're still reasonably priced. Customized Fruit Roll-Ups are fun, easy to design, and have to be healthier than any of those personalized candies.

WIN THEM! Want to win your own box of personalized Fruit Roll-Ups? All you have to do is visit the My Fruit Roll-Ups website, then leave a comment here telling me which design(s) you would choose for your Fruit Roll-Ups. You have until Thursday (June 12) at midnight Eastern time. One winner will be picked at random on Friday to win a box of their personalized design. (One box equals 30 Fruit Roll-Ups.) Good luck!