Bella Sara – Pokemon for Girls?

Last week, my mom mentioned that I had a package at her house from Team Mom.  After we discussed her holding my packages and forgetting to tell me or bring them to me, she produced the package.  I was totally impressed from the time I opened the package and saw the Bella Sara cards. They were so cute.  When I showed them to Cameron, I found out that other girls in her class had brought these to school and she had “always wanted them.”  I asked her how they worked and she explained to me that the girls brought them to school and traded them during recess.  I immediately remembered when my little brothers use to load up their Pokemon cards and take them to school to trade. In fact, Cameron has one in her baby box that one of my brothers gave to her in the hospital when she was born.  It was one of his favorites and he loved his little niece more than anything else. I remembered this loving moment as we opened the Bella Sara cards.

After getting the cards home, we logged into the Bella Sara website and created Cameron an account while we discussed some Internet saftey issues as well as how to determine a username and remember a password.  After her account was created, I wanted to evaluate how kid friendly the site was so I stepped back and told her to play around.  Within just a couple minutes she was asking for the cards and inputting the codes on the cards.  Then she had her characters and started browsing the site.  She was happy.  In fact, she was so happy that when she came in Saturday afternoon from quality time with our grandmother, she came in with another set of Bella Sara cards that they picked up from our local Tractor Supply Company.

If you are looking for a fun trading card game combined with an online world for any little girls in your world, I would highly recommend the Bella Sara game.  Cameron is 8 and truly has enjoyed these cards.  She was so disappointed when she was grounded today and could not play for the first time since we sat up the account. And maybe the best thing is a package of cards only costs $2.99 and the online game is FREE!!  Can you say stocking stuffer?

Virtual Babies for Your Babies

We’ve found a new game for the Nintendo DS that I know Cameron will love (and I bet maybe your daughter’s will too).  It’s called My Baby and it gives the player a chance to raise their own virtual baby (Since Cameron is wanting a baby brother or sister, I’m thinking this is the answer…LOL)

My Baby (produced by SouthPeak games) will come out next month and allow children to nurture, engage and raise their baby at their own pace with their own sensitivities, instincts and style.  When you first start the name, you can name your baby and choose it’s ethnicity and eye color. Then there is a pediatrician to help them care for their baby. They have to change their baby’s diaper and feed her.

We played an introductory game for it, and Cameron is already looking forward to this game coming out on November 10, 2008.

Tag You’re It

You know the routine, I’ve been tagged by my new friend Holly, and now I’m chasing everyone else….finding someone else to tag so they can be it!  This one is slightly different though – before tagging someone you must answer the following questions:

1. What were your favorite games to play when you were a kid? Do you remember the rules? Share them here (bored kids grounded from video games will thank you):
   My favorite games were board games and card games.  Probably my most favorite (still) was Monopoly. I grew up like an only child as my siblings were so much younger than I was.  So I loved having someone to play board games with, and Monopoly was one of the longest games out there (which meant more game time).
2. Did you go trick-or-treating when you were a kid? What was your favorite costume ever?
   Of course.  I loved going trick-or-treating.  Oddly enough, my most favorite costume was when I was the Statue of Liberty.  It wasn’t because the costume was so great or “cool,” but that my grandmother and I made it from a pattern, and I love the memories of the time we spent together making it.
3. How old is “too old” to go trick-or-treating?
   I have to admit to having this as a pet peeve as the “kids” in our town will come around without even a costume and just a candy bag.  I’m not so sure my opinion is that there is an age, but it is for sure when you think you are too old to dress up!
4. Do you remember any silly or gross songs or rhymes from your childhood (like, “Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts”)? Share them with us!
   The one silly song that we sang the longest (we jumped rope to it) was Miss Mary Mac.
   Miss Mary Mac Mac Mac
   All dressed in black, black, black
   With silver buttons, buttons, buttons
   All down her back, back, back
   She asked her mother, mother, mother
   For 50 cents, cents, cents.
   To see the elephants, elephants, elephants
   Jump over the fence, fence, fence.
   They jumped so high, high, high
   They reached the sky, sky, sky
   They never came back, back, back
   Till the 4th of July, July, July
5. What is your favorite Halloween memory?
   My favorite is a post Halloween memory actually.  One year my mom thought I’d gotten into the car after trick or treating at a house and she put the car in reverse.  But there was only one problem, I wasn’t entirely in the car, and my foot got caught under the wheel of her car.  It didn’t cause any real damage (or it wouldn’t be a favorite memory) – just some bruising and pain!  So when I go to PE the next day, I give my PE teacher the note from my mom that I needed to be excused from activities as she had run over my foot.  The PE teacher did not believe it.  She actually went to see my mom as she thought it was a joke. My mom actually had to assure her that she had in fact RAN OVER ME!!!!
6. What goodies do you hope to find in your treat bag this Halloween?
   I’ve actually been disappointed the last 8 years in the way that Halloween has gone here.  I remember that we would be dropped off at the beginning of one street and meet our mom’s at the end of the street because EVERY house gave out Halloween goodies.  Now that I’m a mom, it’s harder.  So few people now participate. We have to search for places with their lights on when I take Cameron Trick or Treating.  Last year, we did the Halloween carnival at school and then just did the small community Trick or Treating afternoon.  So I just hope to find ANYTHING in Cameron’s bag.

Disney Fun & Games

I love Disney Music. I’ve already started creating Disney ringtones for my new phone. When my phone accidentally rings in public, it always brings a smile to the faces of those around me. I couldn’t let the new phone be an exception to this rule. This leads me to…..(drum roll please)…..

My Favorite Disney Songs (for the sake of this list, I’ll stick to movie songs and not things like Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus, Jonas Brothers, etc)

1. A Whole New World
2. Hakuna Matata
3. Part of Your World
4. Cruella de Ville
5. Beauty & The Beast
6. Kiss the Girl
7. Be Our Guest
8. When You Wish Upon A Star
9. The Bare Neccessities
10. Friend Like Me
11. Can You Feel the Love Tonight?
12. Colors of the Wind
13. Reflection
14. You’ll be in My Heart
15. Circle of LIfe

Do you love Disney? Have any favorite Disney songs? Any that are on my list? I’d love to hear them.

Why am I taking the time to talk Disney? Because I’ve been granted the great opportunity to tell you about this new game – Disney Bingo!! This is a DVD game from Screenlife. We are big Scene It fans and just got a new system called a Game Wave. We love electronic games and I’m thinking that Disney Bingo will soon be another favorite. It’s really made for a younger audience than Cameron, but with her love of Disney and our love of games, I still can’t wait for it to arrive. I just ordered us one from Amazon (it’s also available at DrugStore.com) for a great price. Check out this video:

Looks fun, huh?