Since my son have started reading and writing, he’s been bombarding Lego with his emails. This is one of them. Good for them they ask for the age on their website, because I guess it would be very frustrating getting such correspondence. And I guess they get that often from their precious 8 and up (or less) little fans. I wonder myself what their going to write back! I can’t wait!
So here it goes:

“WHY DID YOU SALE ALL THE LEGO CITY GARBAGE TRUCKS, RELLY I LOVE THOSE TRUCKS, ONE DAY, I SAW THAT THOSE TRUCKS WERE SOLD OUT AND I YELLD “NO,NO, NO, NO,NO,NO, NO,NO,NO,WHY,WHY,WHY,WHY,WHY,WHY, YOU,YOU,YOU,YOU,YOU,YOU,YOU,YOU,”AND ….”crazy banana”. so WHY DID YOU DO THAT???????????????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?????”

Do your kids write funny emails too?
And by the way, I can’t wait till mine will write Jonas Brothers, because as I see it THEY are on the “NEXT” list, especially with that song!

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!

Guess what, I have a happy news! My business sort of thing of lying on the beach under the palm tree is coming true… Well, not exactly… Sort of… The point is I don’t know if I was sleeping, or maybe cooking, or maybe playing with my kids… I don’t know exactly when in time – but my drawings sold again. Yupieee!! I didn’t make much, but I didn’t do much either. As I said, I don’t know when it happened, but it did. Here are my lucky drawings:

I must admit, I was a bit busy. I didn’t draw lately. I was busy with moving. And… busy with something else – something very exciting, but I am going to write about that later. You have to wait. It’s an absolute hit. Anyway, one of my drawings sold three times in a row!
I guess, I better go get that pen and tablet on as quickly as possible, and stop procrastinating!

Eva

P.S. If you want to see my whole portfolio, click HERE

It’s almost 7am. Our house is still quiet. Behind the window I hear birds chirping. It’s a kind of spring chirping and it’s the middle of February! Do the birds chirp their little joyful chirping sounds in the middle of February? I am not sure. I am so much caught up with the civilization, living in the city of bricks and stones that I am not sure. There’s lot of trees all around our new house though. Why do the birds chirp anyway? Is it because the spring is really coming? It sure feels like that.
I do love listening to birds. They are like little heralds of joy.
Today is the second morning I hear birds chirping.
Maybe it’s a sign? Maybe spring will come sooner this year?
Oh, I do hope so!
Somehow spring always brings new hope, hope for the better, hope for the warm sunny weather, hope for new great adventures, new things.
I imagine new places we’re going to visit with our kids, new people we’re going to meet, new laughs, new joys…

And it started snowing… Yup, big fat snowflakes are falling from the sky behind my window… They’re coming down fast, hurrying to cover any signs of the coming spring… The bird is singing no longer. Suddenly I feel chilly.
But the spring IS coming. Nothing will stop that.

I am glad that for a moment I was there already.

Three days have passed since we really moved in (three days of hard work). The tv is not plugged in yet, the living room is a storage for things waiting to be moved somewhere else, the bathroom stuff is still in the boxes, partially of course, BUT my office and the kitchen are completely done! I guess those are the most important places.
The thing I like about this new house is that I can share the office with my kids so behind my desk is a light pink kitchen set from Pottery Barn:

a little white table with little two chairs for little tea parties ( for the pic please scroll down ), on the right a big Barbie mansion from Kid Kraft:

and on the back right – some boy’s precious Lego city:

I quickly discovered that working with kids has its pros and cons, cons mostly…
Like here for example when they took over my computer:

and I was left with a teeny tiny spot at the little white table, on the little white chair, next to the food… ( I would add “made of wood” but that would rhyme and sound just silly, so I am going to put that into brackets anyone wonders about that food):

Hmmmm…
It was supposed to be a LITTLE different… I was supposed to sit at the BIG desk… It was supposed to be MINE working space…!

I guess, from now on, we all gonna SHARE.

(…)

I think I HATE sharing.

We’re moving out, so I am busy with packing, cleaning and all this sort of stuff. Here’s a pic of my new sofa I got for our new house:

(I LOVE light colors..!)
For now it waits patiently in my office… Hopefully we will get it to the new place today or tomorrow.
I’ll be busy busy busy  for the next few days so if I don’t have a time to post, see you on Monday Everyone! I will still go and visit your blogs though to see what you’re up to!
Ahhhh….! I can’t wait until I am done already with this moving thing! Anxious excited? Yup, that’s me!

Eva

Recently I was going through our old family albums and saw the picture of my husband when he was around the age that our son is right now…

… ♥

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.

My friend Agnes always has great post updates. Here’s the one I could enjoy lately:
“We all can’t be heroes. Somebody has to sit on the sides and clap as they go by.”

I felt kind of less pressure on myself after reading this one…

Early in 2009 I stumbled upon something called an affiliate marketing, in simple words – one of the many ways leading to making money online. Year later I am on the quest to make that happen. I know, seems like everyone is trying to do the same thing. As the economy falls more and more people is searching for ways to make some extra money. And the best scenario is if you can do it from the quietness of your home. Why?
My answer to that question is quite simple – I want time with my family. It is more precious for me than talking to strangers at work, hearing every day about what their dogs did, what they have for lunch today, or solving their problems. Don’t get me wrong. It’s not that I don’t care. I do. But how often when you eat lunch, can you hear the same story about Jackie’s dog’s lump that grew somewhere on his body and following after that costly doctor’s visits? You bet the person sitting next to you had the same experience or similar with her dog, so she shares that and for few weeks the lunch room is full of pet stories. Some funny, some completely gross. And there you are, sitting and eating your lunch, wishing that they stop talking about it.
That was my workplace. “Was” because I became a full time blogger, freelancer, writer.
And it still requires lot of work. I do several projects at the time, spending at least few hours everyday working. If I don’t, that’s ok, but it gets me a little bit away from my goal. I wake up every morning and I start working. Routine really pays off. After few weeks, I’ve noticed I started to feel comfortable, it became something I looked forward to it. The best thing though is that I can watch my daughter playing, or I can choose to have a break and play with her. That’s the powerful strength behind my motivation. Motivation is something you need desperately when you go for a few months without any income, wondering if it ever comes, or what if it never does (?!) I made peace with that risk though – I decided I will do it for one whole year, but I will do it good.
No matter what. I’ll wait and see. I mean… I’ll WORK and see. Now, that’s better.

Gosh, here I am… truly desperate housewife… ( realistically when I look at it – I am really desperate! hahaha ) Anyway, stay tuned to hear my story and have yourself a really really wonderful day!