I was lucky enough to be asked to do a review for Aurora’s latest stuffed animal, Milly The Pinkest Kitten. Since we have a houseful of boys, I went immediately to my girl, Alice, for her opinion. She LOVED Milly. In her words, “She’s so soft and so pink, she’s just what every girl would love to snuggle and play with!” Milly took me back in time with it’s scent, reminded me of the old Strawberry Shortcake dolls that blew sweet, little puffs of scent.

If you are looking for the perfect gift for a little girl on your list, check these out!

Aurora Introduces Milly™ The Pinkest Kitten

Cupcakes Carriers, Dress Up Kitty “Cat”er to Little Girls

Pico Rivera, CA – July 7, 2010 – Little girls who love plush and pink will love the newest feline phenom from toy and gift manufacturer Aurora World Inc. (http://www.auroragift.com). Milly™ The Pinkest Kitten comes from the company behind the best selling international toy brand YooHoo & Friends™. Ten perfectly pink variations feature Milly as freestanding plush, in dress up or even portable via scented toy pet carriers.

“We are excited to introduce the Milly line to little girls and tweens everywhere who are partial to plush that is cute and ‘girly,’ not to mention pink,” says Michael Kessler, SVP of Sales at Aurora. Kessler says, “Milly makes a great gift for girls, while inspiring and comforting them at the same time.”

Milly WannaBes (8”, MSRP: $10.99) are dressed as a princess, ballerina or fairy. Kessler says, “Girls ages three to seven love playing pretend and dress up and aspire to be princesses, ballerinas and fairies most often.

“Aurora’s plush toy pet carriers have been one of the company’s best sellers for over five years, and with Milly,” says Kessler, “Aurora has introduced a line of chocolate, vanilla and strawberry scented carriers.” Milly Cupcake Carriers (MSRP: $13.99) include a removable eight-inch Milly plush animal (Mini-Flopsie™) and for the first time, Aurora’s plush carriers are marked with scents lasting approximately six months (the carriers range in size from six to eight inches).

Milly Birthday Girl (8”, MSRP: $10.99) is available in two styles, holding either a colorful cupcake or birthday balloon. “Cupcakes, birthdays and little girls go hand-in-hand,” says Kessler. Rounding out the collection, Aurora offers the signature soft and pink Milly as small (10”, MSRP $10.99) or medium (13”, MSRP: $12.99) freestanding, bean filled plush animals. Milly The Pinkest Kitten is on shelves now and perfect for ages three and up.

For more information, please visit http://www.auroragift.com, email info@auroragift.com or call 888-287-6722. Shop Aurora online at http://shop.auroragift.com or more than 25,000 retail outlets worldwide.

About Aurora
Aurora World, Inc. (www.auroragift.com), celebrating its 30^th anniversary in 2011, is a leading manufacturer and supplier of high quality, competitively priced plush toys and gifts. Aurora’s name reflects its extensive product lines and growing influence in the worldwide marketplace, as well as its international manufacturing, R&D and distribution resources. Founded in 1981, the Korean company with headquarters also in the United States, United Kingdom and Hong Kong, has ascended quickly to become a respected leader in the world’s toy and gift industry. Aurora created the international plush toy phenomenon – YooHoo & Friends™ – and its corresponding free, interactive web site (www.yoohoofriends.com), appealing to young children and tweens alike. The company sells its products via a wide variety of retailers including major zoos, high-end toy stores such as Learning Express, top gift chains such as Hallmark and Claire’s as well as hospital gift shops, fine florists, candy stores and gift/stationery stores worldwide.

Note: I was provided with products from Aurora in exchange for my honest review.

In Levi’s class they draw names for “Scientist of the Week” and last week was his shining moment. He wanted to use water and baby food jars as his props. We came up with a plan to do the old “3am at Denny’s water glass trick” Not that I ever pulled that trick on anyone…but…it goes a little something like this: you take a glass of water, put the menu over the top, flip it upside down onto the table then pull the menu out. The glass remains full of water, but upside down. The only way to “fix” it is to lift the glass up and let the water spill out.
The experiment was right up Levi’s alley – anything with water is FUN! Dave (one of his teachers) added to the fun by seeing if a piece of paper would stick on the bottom when it was upside down and it worked!
Levi did a great job explaining the how’s and why’s of his experiment. I was a proud mama for sure.

I will never get tired of our beach, I grew up playing on it and am so glad my kids are getting the same experience as I did, turning rocks over to find baby crabs, wading and splashing in the freezing cold water, skipping rocks. Good times.
This weekend I was hoping to get a few updated pictures of the boys to put on the wall, came home with some great shots (none wall-worthy, though) and a lot of fun. We have this amazing resource right down the hill and we need to take more advantage of it. We even took Abbie down for a swim. Trey was the only one to brave the icy waters this time, and was hilarious standing on a rock and pretending the be the Karate Kid. He’s such a ham, always wanting his picture taken and then wanting to see it immediately to see how it looks.

Yes, yes this picture is Trey at the E.R. And would you believe that it was all due to a slug hunting accident?
According to Trey, there was this really fast black slug that he was chasing in the woodpile and as he was just about the catch it, he slipped on a board and his hand landed on a nail. He got a nice puncture wound that needed to be cleaned out and I wasn’t 100% sure if he needed a tetanus shot (thank God he didn’t, the Harrison ER didn’t have one in stock!). We were in and out quickly, now fingers crossed that he can leave it alone so it won’t get infected. Who knew slug hunting could be so dangerous?!

Nana and Papa asked Dee if she would be willing to help them check the pipes under the house, and wrap them if needed. What a great chance for our guys to go on an adventure down below the house. From up above, we could hear them scurrying around and laughing. Dee got her work done, and Nana and I even dropped a “treasure chest” with Ring Pops down the hole for them to find (although Dee was trying so hard to get them out they almost left it behind). Anytime the boys can be in a hole with flashlights is a good time!

We have had the boys in swimming lessons for a couple of years now and they have been doing great. Levi passed the swimming pool’s test and can now swim on his own anywhere in the pool at open swims. He even went off the high dive (which he described as “lots of wind, then a big slap”) a couple of times.
Anyhow, they were getting tired of lessons so we decided to give Trey a little break and to let Levi and Carlos try diving. So far, they are loving it! If I can adjust my camera to take better pictures, you’ll see how well they are doing.

So, Levi is an organizer extraordinairre. Everything must be in it’s place. While we were shopping this afternoon, I was busily throwing things in my cart and he was standing at the end of the cart moving things around. When we got to the checkout, this is what I found.
AMAZING.

In Port Orchard there are some cool little steamer trains that our boys love to ride on. Kitsap Steamers puts on these free train rides and even does a Halloween haunted train ride that I think we may check out this year.
It was a fun adventure for sure, the trains were the big draw but having a picnic at the park with Nana and Papa was tops on my list.

Ours was a little late starting this year….but it’s paying off now! YUM!

So I know these pictures are a little old, the Kitsap Fair was a few weeks ago…but at some point I will recap my summer with the guys and update this blog. I am finding that having 5 kids (7 and under) is really the point where things stop getting done around here.
Anyhow…onto the pictures! We spent the day at the Fair and this year bought wristbands so all the kids could ride all the rides they wanted to. Of course, they wanted to do the few things the wristband didn’t but when they realized they could ride the rides over and over again it was fabulous. They even went on some “big kid” rides this year!
Carlos had a tough time not being tall enough to ride some of the cool big rides but we compromised with him playing some carnival games. He actually tried to negotiate (and did!) with one of the carnies and got his pop the balloons with a dart games for 1/2 price! That’s my boy.