See Kai Run. *sigh* What more do I need to say? Season after season and year after year See Kai Run continues to design children’s shoes that make me swoon. Don’t believe me? Search “See Kai Run” on Boutique Cafe. You’ll find at least three past reviews, all with me singing the company’s praises.

Every pair they’ve sent us for review, my children have loved and worn and loved and worn until there’s no room for any more lovin’ or wearing. They last forever; the designs are fresh (even hand-me-down versions are still just as cool); and they fit my children’s feet. Not an easy task when you’re talking one two-year-old with chunky feet and one four-year-old who’s super picky about his shoes fitting just right. But See Kai Run does it—and does it in style.

See Kai Run sent Livi the Arianna from their new Spring collection. Can you say “yummiest orange Mary Jane EVER?!” She could not wait to put these on so we immediately de-boxed them. They went perfectly with her current outfit of choice:

Don’t tell Livi, but while she was sleeping one night I tried on the shoes just in case they might fit me. They didn’t. Dang!

You can view See Kai Run’s entire Spring collection online. You might want to double check the limit on your credit card…I guarantee you’ll want to buy every pair on the site!

*** Giveaway!!! See Kai Run is giving away one (1) pair of See Kai Run shoes, winner’s choice!

Here’s how to enter. You can do as many of these as you’d like. Each one is worth one entry into our giveaway; please leave a separate comment for each one you do:

•   Visit SeeKaiRun.com and leave a comment telling us your favorite product.
•   Become a fan of See Kai Run on Facebook and leave a comment telling us you’re their newest fan.
•   Follow See Kai Run on Twitter and leave a comment telling is you’re their newest follower.
•   Tweet about this giveaway and leave a comment with the URL of your tweet.
•   Blog about this giveaway and leave a comment with the URL to your blog post.

Include a valid email address for our drawing. We’ll draw the winner from the comments and contact her via email. Deadline: March 4, 2010 (midnight). The winner will have 24 hours to claim her prize or a new winner will be chosen.

* Congratulations to Regina M., the winner of the See Kai Run giveaway! Thank you to everyone who took the time to read the review and add a comment. Keep reading the Daily Dish for your chance to participate in more giveaways!

Oh isn’t this precious?! Created by designer thats*so*addie, this “Cow Says Moo” custom set (size 2-6) is a darling jumper and matching pants.

Designer thats*so*addie says:
“I ADORE how this set turned out! I used the popular Cow Says Moo fabrics to make this darling jumper set.

The jumper dress is a sweet combination of barnyard fabrics with a poufy bubble style skirt attached for a full & fun look. Euro clips at the shoulders for a unique look and of course a little pocket on the bodice showing off those cute little farm animals. Layer over a long sleeve tee for cooler days.

The poufy ruffle pants (can be made capri length if you wish) are so sweet with little pockets featuring the barnyard animals on one leg and made with darling coordinating polka dots. The ruffles at the hem are a new design by me that have a pouf to them instead of regular ruffles…so cute and fluffy!”

Bid Here>>

I’m sure many of you have already heard of Keurig home brewers, especially if you were watching commercials around the holidays. They quickly became a hot gift item due to their ability to quickly brew single-cup servings of coffee, tea and hot chocolate. Though not coffee drinkers, we do enjoy our tea and cocoa and I couldn’t resist the vision of Keurig’s beautiful, sleek design sitting on my countertop.

Thank heavens Keurig had a wait list for review units and my name came up sooner rather than later! Winter is the perfect time to give this baby a test run. Keurig sent me their Keurig Select Brewing system, which retails for about $160. This model actually offers users four cup size options when brewing, an auto on/off setting and the largest available removable water reservoir, which holds up to ten cups. I didn’t realize until reading the user’s manual it has a removable drip tray so you can fill your travel mug before heading out the door. (If only it also “brewed” vanilla-flavored Diet Coke…)

The girls oohed and aahed over the Keurig brewer when I first set it up on the counter. They couldn’t wait to try it out, so we hurried and washed the reservoir and then filled it with water. After returning the reservoir to the brewer it only took a couple minutes for “ready to brew” to appear on the LCD screen. In went the hot cocoa cup and out came the chocolate:

Though the brewer was a hit, the hot cocoa definitely was not. The brand is Green Mountain and I noticed they didn’t get stellar reviews on Keurig’s site or Amazon.com. The girls wouldn’t touch it, even my “loves anything hot cocoa” daughter Lauren, so down the drain it went. I noticed the Ghirardelli hot cocoa received pretty decent reviews, but those are packets and not K-cups.

I then tried the lemon zinger tea. I popped in the cup, hit brew and a few seconds later it was ready. The flavor was really good, although next time I might up the cup size so it’s not so strong. Cocoa and tea aside, most of Keurig’s coffee selections receive rave reviews. I wish I’d had a chance to invite some coffee-drinking friends over but the brewer arrived too late to do so.

If you’re a serious tea (great selection of teas!) and/or coffee drinker with a penchant for sleek appliances, Keurig home brewers are totally for you. If you’re more of a cocoa drinker, I’d wait a bit longer until they add a little more variety—and some better-rated selections—to their current line. –Emily

DIY lovers, there is a new site in town that is destined for internet greatness…The DIY Dish (a new venture from the mompreneurs who brought you the highly successful YouCanMakeThis.com). Sisters Kim and Kris serve up creativity and fun with fabulous new web shows, projects and more. Get in on {The DIY Dish} and find your “creativity is served” on a silver platter! ~ XOXO Daria

…

YOU CAN WIN WITH THE DIY DISH >>

We first reviewed Plum Organics in December, 2007. Since then it has become the leading, premium baby food brand due in part to its innovative baby food pouch packaging but I’d say mostly due to the ingredients: premium, certified organic baby food with no added sugar, juice, color or flavors.

The company recently launched an line of first-stage baby food called the JUST line (six single-fruit varieties of USDA organic baby food) and a selection of fruit and veggie blends (e.g., pumpkin & banana, apple & carrot, spinach, peas & pear). Plum Organics sent us a few pouches from the JUST line to review, but since I didn’t have a child willing to try young enough to test the samples I decided to try the purees in a couple recipes.

For the first recipe I substituted about one full pouch of JUST Bananas in a Betty Crocker Cinnabon Cinnamon Streusel muffin mix. They were just as yummy, if not more moist than usual:

And for the second recipe I substituted a pouch of JUST apples in one of my favorite lemon cookie recipes. (You can find the recipe on isthisREALLYmylife.com.) These babies were also super tasty thanks to the Plum Organics puree:

But back to the packaging. Those pouches are super cool! They fit much more nicely in a diaper bag or purse for on-the-go feeding. The recyclable cap is resealable so you don’t have to chuck any uneaten food. They’re lightweight (no breakable glass jars) and make it easier to squeeze onto a spoon. The packaging is also designed using 100% BPA-free materials. Cool, huh?

Plum Organics also sent us a few samples from the company’s new TOTs line, a complete line of organic snacks for toddlers. You’ll find TOTs Mish Mash (squeezable fruit snack); TOTs Fruity Fingerfuls (pouch of handful-sized bites of freeze-dried fruit and multi/whole grain puffs); and TOTs Fiddlesticks (gluten-free snack sticks with “the goodness of fruits and veggies baked right in”).

Now, I tried to get Livi to test the TOTs line, but she wouldn’t have it. She’s kind of in that “I’ll eat what I want to eat when I want to eat it” phase, which seems to last for years at a time. (Her favorites right now are cheese, yogurt, Goldfish crackers and more cheese.) But my husband was all about taking the TOTs Fruity Fingerfuls to work for a healthy snack. Hey, more power to him! I do know Livi loved those freeze-dried fruit snacks a few months back when she wasn’t so danged independent, so I bet had we tried them then she’d have been a big fan.

Though a little pricier than your typical off-the-shelf baby food, Plum Organics is worth it if you’re looking for certified organic food with no artificial ingredients and no added sugar or salt. It’s 100% “real” food. –Emily

*** Giveaway! Rebel Green is giving away three (3) six-packs of their JUST baby food to one lucky Daily Dish winner!

Here’s how to enter. You can do as many of these as you’d like. Each one is worth one entry into our giveaway; please leave a separate comment for each one you do:

•   Visit PlumOrganics.com and leave a comment telling us which fruit & veggie blend sounds yummiest to you.
•   Become a fan of Plum Organics on Facebook and leave a comment telling us you’re their newest fan.
•   Follow Plum Organics on Twitter and leave a comment telling is you’re their newest follower.
•   Tweet about this giveaway and leave a comment with the URL of your tweet.
•   Blog about this giveaway and leave a comment with the URL to your blog post.

Include a valid email address for our drawing. We’ll draw the winner from the comments and contact her via email. Deadline: February 25, 2010 (midnight). The winner will have 24 hours to claim her prize or a new winner will be chosen.

* Congratulations to Eileen B., the winner of the Plum Organics giveaway! Thank you to everyone who took the time to read the review and add a comment. Keep reading the Daily Dish for your chance to participate in more giveaways!

Before I started writing reviews for Boutique Cafe I had no idea so many wonderful children’s CDs existed. Of course I had a selection of children’s music but it was mostly Disney’s Silly Songs, some compilations of children’s favorites and a lullaby cassette (yes, I just typed “cassette”) or two. These days the choices are numerous and varied. We’ve featured quite a few here on the Daily Dish and I have another fun one for you today.

Party Like a Twinkle Star is the latest release from Charity & the JAMband. Who–or what–is JAM?

JAM is a hootenanny, a hullabaloo, a dance party, a shindig-bash, a festival, a family band, a rain dance, a sun song, a fairy frolic, a wander in the park, a race on the beach, a flitting floating butterfly-bop, a blundering thundering elephant-stomp, a twirling-whirling-swirling dizzy-dee fall-down boogie!

How could you not want to go right out and purchase this two-disc set after reading that? The full story of Charity and JAM is rather interesting; you can read it here.

Party Like a Twinkle Star will have your kids twirling, frolicking and rockin’ with the first disc, Party: 10 Songs for Rocking Out. Then Charity & the JAMband will help them calm down, relax and mellow with Twinkle: 10 Songs for Tucking In.

My favorite Party songs were “Some More S’mores,” “Beach” and “We Are Stardust” (definitely a great song!). But I’d say most of my favorites came from the Twinkle disc. In fact, I loved the entire disc. Perhaps it was because it was late at night while I listened, but those tunes were peaceful, soulful and centering in a way. I’m listening to “Moon Hug” right now and I keep pausing to listen and relax and regroup. You can tell the artists behind the music have children and movement and music appreciation in mind when they created these tracks.

Along with their collection of music, Charity & the JAMband offer some wonderful children’s and grown-ups’ classes if you happen to live in the Bay Area. Since we don’t, we’ll have to settle for creating our own JAM classes here at home, though I have a feeling I’ll be popping in the Twinkle CD most often. (We have quite a bit of twirling, rollin’ and rockin’ goin’ on already.) –Emily

** Giveaway! Charity & the JAMband is giving away two (2) copies of Party Like a Twinkle Star!

Here’s how to enter. You can do as many of these as you’d like. Each one is worth one entry into our giveaway; please leave a separate comment for each one you do:

•   Visit Charity & the JAMband online and tell us what you think of their February “Song of the Month”
•   Follow Charity & the JAMband on Twitter and leave a comment telling is you’re their newest follower.
•   Tweet about this giveaway and leave a comment with the URL of your tweet.
•   Blog about this giveaway and leave a comment with the URL to your blog post.

Include a valid email address for our drawing. We’ll draw the winner from the comments and contact her via email. Deadline: February 23, 2010 (midnight). The winner will have 24 hours to claim her prize or a new winner will be chosen.

* Congratulations to Kowanda M. and Renee C., the winners of the Party Like a Twinkle Star giveaway! Thank you to everyone who took the time to read the review and add a comment. Keep reading the Daily Dish for your chance to participate in more giveaways!

Tees are the basics every gal needs.

Plain tees are nice but it’s always fun to spice up an outfit with a vibrant color or a cute content tee. Don’t get me wrong though… I’m not about to advertise myself with a shirt that yells out a brand on the chest or silly and ridiculous statements across the front.

That is why I like retroink tees. Their classy vintage content combines any look into a stylish statement. My fitted elephant tee is not only a hit in the classroom full of 1st graders but adults in the college classroom find my shirt very “cool!”

The cotton isn’t anything amazingly soft, but, with enough washes the shirt has become more worn in and more comfortable and seems to fit me better.

The tees are an affordable way to supplement your wardrobe with just a few pieces that could add variety and style to your closet.

Tees are available at retroink.com
-amber

I love the sound of jingling bells because it usually means the holidays are here and Santa’s on his way. It’s a sad, sad day when the bells stop jingling but thanks to Baby Emi jewelry you can hear those tinkling, jingling bells all year long!

Baby Emi was founded “to celebrate Debbie’s [the owner's] Cambodian heritage and the culture’s family-oriented traditions. She was also inspired by her grandparents who made a brave trek to America during a dark time in history wanting to create lives filled with peace, hope and promise.” Cambodian families welcome new babies with jingle bell anklets believing the whimsical sounds keep bad spirits at bay. The inspiration for Baby Emi came when Debbie’s daughter received a set of traditional Cambodian jingle bells as a baby blessing gift in 2002.

I’m not the only one who loves these sweet little jingle bells. You’ll find Baby Emi’s sterling silver jingle bell anklets and bracelets on quite a few celebrity children. That’s probably why I felt super nifty when Baby Emi gave me a sterling silver jingle bell anklet for Livi so she and I could review it on the Daily Dish.

Oh, the sweet tinkling of those tiny, delicate bells! When I pulled it out of the satin gift bag the first thing I did was see if it would fit around my wrist. It honestly looked fabulous, but I sacrificed and let my daughter try it on for size. Unfortunately for this review but fortunately for me (because now I can wear it whenever I want), Miss “I’ll wear what I want to wear and not what you ask/beg/plead with me to wear” refused to keep it on. I bet if I’d had one on her ankle since birth she’d be fine with it. (The same holds true for headbands and oversized floral clips.) I honestly wish she’d wear it so I could tell where she was in the house. Is she in my bathroom trying on lipstick? Is she in the pantry pulling out the Costco-size bag of chips? It would be nice to have a sort of JPS (”jingle positioning system”) on her!

Though Livi won’t wear it, I continue to take it out of the bag, shake it gently and fall prey to the enchanting sound. Apparently these Cambodian jingle bells can stimulate a baby’s development–perhaps that’s why I love it. I could use a little stimulation throughout the day. (Not that kind of stimulation…) Anything to keep me awake from the hours of 3pm to 7pm.

Baby Emi offers anklets and bracelets for infants, toddlers and adults alike along with sweet necklaces and bangles. Though a little pricey at $60 for a baby anklet, they do make a beautiful and meaningful baby gift (or Valentine’s/Mother’s Day/I’d be lost without you gift). It’s been too long since I last heard the jingling of bells. Better give that anklet a little shake! –Emily

* Promotion! Baby Emi is offering Daily Dish readers 15% off their purchase with code BOUTIQUECAFE15. Now you too can jingle all year long!

*** Giveaway!!! Baby Emi is giving away one (1) sterling silver Jingle Bells anklet for baby to one lucky Daily Dish reader (a $60 value)!

Here’s how to enter. You can do as many of these as you’d like. Each one is worth one entry into our giveaway; please leave a separate comment for each one you do:

•    Visit BabyEmiJewelry.com and leave a comment telling us your favorite piece of jewelry.
•    Become a fan of Baby Emi on Facebook and leave a comment telling us you joined.
•    Follow Debbie on Twitter and leave a comment telling is you’re their newest follower.
•    Tweet about this giveaway and leave a comment with the URL of your tweet.
•    Blog about this giveaway and leave a comment with the URL to your blog post.

Include a valid email address for our drawing. We’ll draw the winner from the comments and contact her via email. Deadline: February 11, 2010 (midnight). The winner will have 24 hours to claim her prize or a new winner will be chosen.

* Congratulations to Aura H., the winner of the Baby Emi giveaway! Thank you to everyone who took the time to read the review and add a comment. Keep reading the Daily Dish for your chance to participate in more giveaways!

I love a non-cheesy personalized children’s tee as much as the next mom but this type of tee can be hard to find. Fortunately for you–and your little one–I discovered Hopscotch Tees on Cool Mom Picks and knew I had to feature them on Boutique Cafe’s Daily Dish. With a tee that said “Pirate {enter your son’s name here}” how could I not?

Hopscotch Tees sent George their Roboman t-shirt and I should’ve paid to have them overnight it. Once George had picked out his tee he asked me “Is that my robot shirt?” every time I grabbed the mail. When it finally arrived that kid had the package open (with a little ribbon help from me) in no time. I wish I could’ve captured his expression when he pulled his “robot shirt” out of the package but these photos will have to do:

…

Did you see the super cute lollipop? Yeah, I thought so. Yummy treat packaged with an equally yummy shirt. George couldn’t wait to wear his shirt but I made him save it until he could show it off at school, but the wait was well worth it (see photo at right). The shirt held up well at preschool and equally well after multiple washings. The shirt is super soft, which is perfect for a little boy who doesn’t deal well with shirts that might be even the least bit itchy. It’s definitely one of George’s favorite tees (and mine)!

Hopscotch Tees has styles for both girls and boys on its site, my favorite girl tee being Sugar Shop. And if (when) we order another one for George we’ll definitely add the Tackle Shop tee to his collection! –Emily

* Promotion! Hopscotch Tees is offering Daily Dish readers free gift wrap AND a crystal or long-sleeve upgrade on their orders! Simply mention Boutique Cafe when checking out. Roboman powers, activate!