Random Research Girl

I just came back home after dropping Joshua at the school bus stop, when the doorbell rang. “What the…?!” I thought as I turned back toward the door. It was a mailman, obviously, carrying a big plain box. “Sign here, please!” I did signed, and he handed it to me. It wasn’t very heavy if at all. I wondered for a moment what could be inside. As I was walking into the kitchen I heard little footsteps upstairs. “Misha!” I called “Handy Manny is here!” There was a short quiet pause as the footsteps stopped, then a loud exciting shriek followed by the sound of fast running little feet. Misha’s face was a sign of utter joy and happiness. “I can’t believe it! Handy Manny!!” – more high pitch noises and dancing.  We’ve opened the box, and there he was! Handy Manny in his own plastic little person!

Historical box that Handy Manny came in...

I could just squeeze you and hug you!!

All parts on the floor...

Let's fix it..! Or "You break it, mommy fixes it" in my version hahaha But let us follow the instructions first...

Ready for his first stroll through the Kitchen City Hall...

Set of Handy Manny Stickers

That's just to show you the size of Handy Manny figure

After all, it was a great day for Misha. She played with her new friend the whole time. I think the reason behind why this toy conquered her heart is because she had to use included Philippe and Turner characters to actually build the bike – like in the movie.

It was a first ever giveaway contest that I’ve ever entered and I already won! If I just could have that luck all the time!

Did you ever wish that your kids could play piano, but there’s always too many obstacles you need to overcome just to enrol them for piano lessons? Either you don’t have a time to drive them to a music school or a private teacher, or simply you can’t afford it, or maybe your child is already taking lessons, but you would want to make it more fun and interesting between hard and boring long practices? How to encourage a child? How to stop this “Please, honey, you need to practice only 10 min!” everyday routine? And how to give yourself some peace of mind that your child is getting the music education that she/he needs?

I was lucky enough to find something that could meet any of the above circumstances: Children’s Music Journey by Adventus, HomeSchool program.

I started the program with my kids more than a week ago, and I am amazed by results! My 4 year old daughter has no interest so far in learning the alphabet, but she sure knows where the middle C is, or high and low notes on the keyboard. She doesn’t care about any big personas in this world, but she knows who the Ludwig van Beethoven was, and that he lost his hearing at the young age. She may not have cared about any classical music before, but now she listens to it, dances to it and has her favourite pieces.  And after more than a week she herself reminds me that today she needs to practice her piano! Isn’t that truly amazing?

All this is happening because of the very sneaky way the Children’s MusIQ Journey works. I think it’s sneaky, because when it teaches kids how to recognize sounds and how to read notes, you can bet they don’t have any idea that they’re learning something otherwise difficult and complicated! They think they’re playing! I’ve looked into some lessons, and found for example very funny game to help kids practice their fingers’ number. There is this cute little frog on one side of the stream, and she needs to get to the other side jumping on lily pads floating in the water. Every lily pad has a number and in order to make the frog to jump on it, you have to pres the keyboard key with the correct finger . Very cute! However, that’s only one little game and there’s many more.

I like that every lesson and every practice starts with music piece kids have to listen to. Then, with every lesson and practice they’re also being  introduced to the music history, theory, biographies of famous composers, notes, rhythm and much more. It’s done with the help of lovable animated characters that portray famous composers, who share with kids their knowledge, facts from their life and teach. These are the teachers! Don’t expect flashy Wii sort of game. Here kids get quiet, thoughtful, relaxed and more focused.

I can’t even describe how pleased I am with the Children’s MusIQ Journey software! I highly recommend it and I am sure you won’t be disappointed. Watch  the video of my kids playing piano on YouTube and see for yourself! (more videos coming so stay tuned! you can also check Adventus’ YouTube channel for more videos)

PROS: Definitely the price. Just for comparison: single piano lesson in Toronto cost around $35-60, plus piano – around $800 at Costco( if you want to buy something essential just to get your child started) but when you choose Adventus, you spend $69 for a software (Volume 1 – there’s 3 in the series) and $129.95 for a 49-Key USB Piano Keyboard, that is carried for your convenience by Adventus also. This is type of Plug ‘n Play device, so no software installation is necessary. Works great with Garage Band too, for those of you who are the Mac maniac like I am.

CONS: BIG WARNING ( read before buying it!! ):
If you feel like you cannot handle any more whining in your life – don’t buy it. If you will, please expect that daily: Can I play piano? I didn’t play piano today. Mom, can you turn the piano on? Mom, it’s my turn! I want to play piano first! Mom, Joshua is bothering me, he doesn’t let me play piano! Mommy, Misha always gets to play first ! and so on.

You can also join Adventus on Facebook and Twitter to get latest updates and news.

Use promo code RANDOM in the shopping cart on the Adventus website to get $5 OFF on all Children’s Music Journey software, bundles and deluxe bundles.

I hope you will find this review helpful on your child’s journey through music!

Eva

Please leave a comment!

When I was reviewing Karito Kids doll Piper, that my daughter got for her birthday, the only thing missing was pics of Misha and her new friend. So, here they are.

I always thought about my daughter’s hair as being dark blond, but then she took Piper in her arms, and my first thought was: “Gosh! How dark Misha’s hair is!” Piper has stunning highlights. I wouldn’t mind to get them done for myself! I could imagine the surprised look at the hair salon: “Uhmmm…. Could you get me exactly the same hair color like this doll has?… ” “M’am it is a… doll!” “Well I know… but I love the color…!” I laughed about the idea, but it really came to my mind. Who knows, maybe one day I will sneak her out the house and get my hair done exactly the same…? If that happens, I am sure they will never ever forget the strange customer they had one day…!! Lol. For now, I hope you’ll enjoy the pics I took.

Party time…

And the guest of honor is…. of course, who else could it be?

Here’s the pic that many moms I am sure will appreciate. The famous cuddly body part of Karito Kids dolls.

I love the way fabric and plastic is connected. It’s very neat.

Piper’s body looks nice. I love that fabric goes just to half of the chest. This way all clothes look nice on her even those without sleeves and shoulders don’t look boxy.

I am sure your little princess will enjoy this doll. Mine does.

I was away for a while… Lost in the land of Animate PRO that I purchased over Christmas. They had a dream-come-true special – I was able to get it for the half price! And I remember the times when the software was almost $3999.00! Now I spend only around $1000! That was MY Christmas present! Oh Santaaaa!!!! My first impression? AWESOME! Second: hard, but… everything is hard before it becomes easy (I don’t want to speculate too much on who said it, but I heard it was Adolf Hitler…blah! Well, someone told me that, and I always remember). Anyway, right now I am on the quest of learning a new thing.
Animation was always my hobby. I used flash and I dreamed about something more flexible. I’ll keep you posted about my progress!
Meanwhile, if you don’t know what Animate Pro is and want to find out more about it, click below.

You may be surprised (or maybe not), how do I manage writing in a foreign language? Well, there’re several reasons for that:
1. My kids refuse to speak a different language ( english and french are the only ones acceptable by them)
2. I study hard – because of the #1 reason
3. I enjoy it!!
4. I use the best writing software tool to widen my ideas and vocabulary! (See Demo of WhiteSmoke)

This is what others say about WhiteSmoke (I’ll share my honest opinion later):

YAHOO!: “Innovative technology for native and non-native English speakers.”
NBC: “WhiteSmoke is unequaled in its field.”
CNN: “Ranked #5 in the Top 31 Business ideas in the World.”

Here comes what I think:

I purchased my own version of WhiteSmoke a year ago. I hoped to improve my writing as I kept on dreaming that one day I will be able to write with confidence. I am a writer in my heart. I love to write! With help of WhiteSmoke this task became much simpler. With one click of a mouse, I can choose dictionary option, equivalent words or explanation of rules of language. No other software so far gives these possibilities. I honestly recommend WhiteSmoke to all who want to polish their writing style. I love new features WhiteSmoke introduces for 2010 -a Style Checker and a Writing Review. Style Checker will enhance sentences with alternate words and phrasing, including alerts for informal language. Writing Review will give a feedback about other things such as sentence length, total word count, and other issues of readability. And how about getting a writing score from 1 to 10 to let you know instantly whether or not your text is good to go? I think, with the latest upgrade, WhiteSmoke is a very exciting tool! I can’t wait to get that upgrade for myself!

Every little girl is a princess… At least that’s true about my little munchkin. She’s 4, or rather she will be exactly 4 in a few days. So as a good mom I went for a quest to find her the best doll ever for her birthday. After doing lot of research over the internet and the shops, I happen to come upon the Karito Kids brand. What awesome dolls they make! Really, I’ve never tried the American Girl doll and I think it must be awesome too, but when I actually saw a Piper from Karito Kids, it was the love at the first sight!

She was hard to get though. I called all the retailers in my area and from all of them only one had one Piper-doll left. They kindly agreed to put her on hold for me till the weekend. I was very lucky – all other retailers told me they don’t expect to have it as this one is highly demanded from all of the line. So what’s so special? It’s hard to say in two words, but for those who really want to have a good insight I’ll try do my best. Let’s start from the head. The first thing that stops everyone ( and I say almost everyone) is the hair. People stare at Piper’s hair when my daughter carries her. They all ask: What is the doll you have? And of course the closer they get the more surprised they are. My little princess takes her new friend everywhere so I guess many people in the neigbourhood will get to know her doll. =) Hair is beautiful. I wouldn’t recommend a brushing though as it’s too harsh; finger-brushing can do all the work (maybe after washing using hairbrush is a must but I can’t say as we haven’t been there yet). Eyes are remarkable and very very pretty. They look like real when just a little light gets inside them. At first it bothered me as I thought a doll with sleepy eyes will be much better for playing, but you can get lost in those eyes… They are so beautiful you don’t want to see them closed. Face feautures resemble 11 year old girl. No make up. I love that. I got tired of those heavy painted Barbie dolls…. The body is made up of 2/3 of fabric and 1/3 a plastic plate, which is nice for sleeveless clothes, but still have that cuddle factor. I was actually surprised how cuddly this dolls felt! I honestly didn’t expect that. I like the fact that she isn’t very thin in her waist. She has a little bit of tummy and little bit of bottom =) like a normal girl of her age. Gosh, I am writing like she WAS real! But as a matter of fact she is like a little person. Her feautures are so sweet and girl like, my daughter treats her like her friend. First day, she would repeat constantly: Piper, you are so cute. Piper you are so beautiful. I love you Piper. It melted my heart away… Knees, elbows, nose, fingers, hands… everything is crafted carefully. It’s like anything you have ever seen in any other doll. Karito Kids made a really good job creating such a beautiful and very high quality doll. I give her A from all other dolls and highly recommend – you won’t be disappointed. My daughter loves to have Zoe for Christmas… as well as some new clothes… And we have to buy them from Karito Kids company as she is such a high quality doll that every clothes we dress her up with that are from other dolls, look like trash. I think I spoiled my daughter for good if it comes to dolls…

Above pictures – courtesy of Karito Kids.