Start Creative Studio Doodle Books (and a reader discount!!)

This post was sponsored by Start Creative Studio. We received free copies of the doodle books in return for writing an honest review. The opinions in this post are our own.

When summer comes around, I always have my eye out for travel-sized goodies for the kids. Whether we 're taking a big trip or they're just running more errands with me than usual, I love having small activities that can occupy big time. So I was super excited when Start Creative Studio reached out to ask whether we'd like to give their doodle books a try. Um, yes!!

Holiday Giveaway for the Procrastinators! (over)

You know who you are. Still need to pick up a few items for the holidays? Well we've got you covered with a little help from The Land of Nod. We're gearing up for the cold weather that's sure to come (although it was 55 in DC again today!) and arming ourselves with lots of indoor activities that still get the kids moving and keep their brains engaged! To help you do the same, one lucky reader will win BOTH the Beanbag Toss Up Game and Don't Let the Blocks Drop Game from The Land of Nod.

To be eligible to win, you must:

1. leave a comment on this blog post telling us who would be the lucky recipient of the games, and include your email so I can get ahold of you; AND
2. like Not-So-SAHM on Facebook (if you haven't already). 

I will pick a winner on Friday, December 19th at 10 am EST. 

Good luck!!!

This giveaway has ended. Congrats to SugarB for winning the games! 

The Land of Nod Holiday GIVEAWAY: $50 Gift Certificate!!! (giveaway over!)

Congrats to LeeAnn for winning the Art Box last week!

The last holiday item up for grabs this season is a $50 gift certificate to The Land of Nod so you can pick whatever your little heart desires! In case you need some inspiration (or want to use the certificate to get me a present), I've rounded up my top 5 favorite Nod items from a variety of categories. I'm obviously in a metallic mood this season, but you can use the card to purchase whatever you'd like for whoever you'd like. Same general rules as last week -- to be eligible to win, you must:

1. leave a comment on this blog post telling us for what you'd use the gift card;
2. like Not-So-SAHM on Facebook (if you haven't already); and 
3. then enter to win via the Rafflecopter at the end of this post. 

I will pick a winner on Tuesday, November 25th at 9 pm EST.

Good luck!!!

CONGRATS TO BECKY M. FOR WINNING THE GIFT CERTIFICATE!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Land of Nod Holiday GIVEAWAY: It's a Draw Art Box!!! (giveaway over)

Congrats to Margaret for winning the Greater Pyramid Block set last week!

The holiday giving continues this week with Land of Nod's awesome It's a Draw Art Box! This is the perfect present that will keep on giving through the cold winter months up ahead. Or at least might let you sleep in a bit one weekend morning -- just leave it out the night before! Same rules as last week -- to be eligible to win, you must:

1. leave a comment on this blog post telling us who'd you give this creative bundle to and why;
2. like Not-So-SAHM on Facebook (if you haven't already); and 
3. then enter to win via the Rafflecopter at the end of this post. 

I will pick a winner on Tuesday, November 18th at 9 pm EST.

Good luck!!!

CONGRATS TO LEEANN FOR WINNING THE ART BOX! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Land of Nod Holiday GIVEAWAY: The Greater Pyramid Blocks! (giveaway over)

Oh heeeey ... it's November! And that means the holidays are coming and that means it's holiday giveaway time! It's no secret that we are big fans of The Land of Nod over here and have been blogging for them for a bit now (if you haven't stopped over to see their collaborative blog Honest to Nod, you'll want to make sure and check it out. lots of great ideas from all kinds of fabulous bloggers, uhemm, uhemm ....). I appreciate, especially at holiday gift-giving time, well-crafted handmade presents. Accordingly, I admire The Land of Nod's artisan partnerships, which create really unique products -- not just cookie-cutter items shipped from a factory.

Keep It Local: Strathmore Backyard Theater for Children + GIVEAWAY!!!

Honestly, I feel as though we drafted a bum Summer Bucket List this year. Because some of the coolest new things we've done aren't even on there (and you know that deprives mom of the satisfaction of crossing things off that list!), including Strathmore's Backyard Theater for Children. Each summer, Strathmore puts on a set of fabulous theater, music and dancing for kids right in its own backyard, under a comfortable tent, complete with free snowcones! I mean, you know we would have gone just for the snowcones, but we loved the Mister G: ABC Fiesta show Strathmore kindly gave us tickets to see.

Now we both like to play it cool. I told mom "I'm really not into doing hand motions, clapping, participating .... you know," but by the end of the show, we were both flapping our pretend insect wings and buzzing along to the music (we were still too cool to get up on stage, though. thank goodness they gave away sunglasses to perpetuate the cool). Mister (and Mrs.) G did a great job of getting everyone participating in their bilingual tunes and we insisted mom buy some CDs at the end. And a kind person fudged the "one snowcone per person" rule for us and we finagled our way into each getting a cherry and a raspberry ice.

But you have no excuse not to go. First, because we're telling you. And, second, because we're giving away a family four-pack of tickets to see one of the remaining three shows of the season! Check out the schedule right here and then follow Rafflecopter link at the end of the post and enter to win. You can earn points to win by two ways:

(1) liking the Not-So-SAHM Facebook page (earns you 2 points); and/or
(2) commenting on this post (earns you 1 point)

BUT all entries must be made through the Rafflecopter to count (otherwise it makes randomly picking a winner difficult)!

You have until 12 pm on Monday, July 14th to get your entries in. Don't miss out!

THE CONTEST IS OVER -- CONGRATS LIZ R. FOR THE WIN! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Miscellaneous Madness: Thinkfun Games Review + GIVEAWAY!!!

This post was sponsored by Thinkfun. We received free versions of the games we played in return for writing an honest review. The opinions in this post are our own.

As many of you know, we had a bit of a rough winter filled with much too much time spent indoors. So by the time "spring" started to show its face, we'd started to grow tired of our go-to games. We were SUPER excited when Thinkfun asked if we'd be interested in reviewing some of their brand new and recently re-released games. We picked out two for the 5+ crowd: Rush Hour, Jr. and Zingo! Word Builder and loved both of them.

Rush Hour, Jr. -- designed for children aged 5 - 15, Rush Hour Jr., is a fabulous logic game with varying levels of difficulty wherein the player solves a puzzle to unblock a traffic jam of cars and get the ice cream truck on its way. Both Kane and I play a similar game on mom's iPhone, so we picked this one up right away (and seemed to like that it was more tactile). It took a little restraint to remember not to lift the brightly-colored vehicles up off the board, but we thought it was fun to "drive" them around and rescue the ice cream truck.

Setting up the puzzles took a bit for me, but is just another part of the problem solving involved. We've been pretty good with taking turns and have made our way through most of the beginner cards so far. Mom likes that the game works for many different skill levels (even she had some trouble with the more difficult cards!) and that it could be portable -- it comes with a nice mesh bag for the pieces and the playing board is pretty compact.

Zingo! Word Builder -- intended for the K-2 grade crowd, this game of fill-in the blank Bingo is just a bit above both of our skill levels. Cam wouldn't sit still for it, but I liked sliding the Zinger forward to get the letter tiles. Each Zingo card is designed to accommodate two different skill levels (beginner on one side and more advanced on another) and each player can pick whatever side best suits them.

I'm not quite to the spelling phase, so mom let me slide the Zinger to get the letters and then she'd tell me the words I could spell with them on my card. I'd then try to find the beginning letter I recognized and finish spelling the word with the tile. Mom loved that the game provided an interactive and fun way to get me to focus on letters and that she could tailor it to my skill set now, while still having room to grow into it.

AND ... Thinkfun is giving away one of their new or recently re-released games to a lucky reader (U.S. readers only) -- your choice! You can pick one of the two games we reviewed, or from these other great games: Move & Groove, Last Letter, Zingo! Timetelling, Hoppers, or Square by Square. 

Enter by either liking our Facebook Page and following the prompt below OR commenting on this post through the prompt below. Extra chances to win by doing BOTH! 

The contest will run to Sunday, April 20th. Good luck! THE CONTEST IS OVER. CONGRATULATIONS TO CARA H.! 


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Miscellaneous Madness: The Harlem Shake

Lest you think we take ourselves too seriously at Casa Verde, we spent a significant amount of time yesterday developing, starring in, directing and producing our very own Harlem Shake meme. You see, earlier this week, our Uncle Steve got his office full of Silicon-Valley-startup-company youngsters to break down a real sweet Harlem Shake. We thought it was hysterical. And we thought we could do better, natch.

And after spending 45 minutes and several Venn diagrams explaining to mom what a meme was, we put our heads together and came up with a plan. If you want to see the finished product, you'll have to go to our Facebook page (and, while you're there, just "Like" us already). I gotta say, I was thoroughly impressed (but not that surprised) with Cam's natural ability to play it cool and ignore mom in the intro. And, boy do I have moves (mom's could use some work, but she's old, so we cut her some slack). Too bad the take with me wielding a bat didn't make the cut.

NOW, we have a challenge for you. We want to see your own kiddo Harlem Shake memes. Seriously. AND, in our full and totally balanced discretion, we'll give the best kiddo HS meme we see (probably going to help you out if you "Like" our page too) a little Not-So-SAHM random assortment of goodies from our arts & crafts closet (what? did you think we have corporate sponsors?). It'll be good. We promise lots of glitter.

So get your Harlem Shake on and post it to our Facebook page. We'll decide on a winner next Friday. And if no one submits one, well, we'll just have to put together another.