A couple of weeks ago, we were at the craft store {real shocker, I know} when Grace took an interest in the castles.

The craft store that we frequent has a section of toys from companies like Melissa & Doug and Thomas the Train. Anyway, Grace was really admiring the castles, so when the opportunity arose to review a Melissa & Doug castle, I jumped.

After several miscommunications regarding the product or products that we’d be reviewing, the Fold & Go Castlearrived.

As soon as I opened the box, Grace adored her tower.

Grace has a great imagination, and she has a Daddy with a great imagination. They spent an hour that first night guarding the castle from intruders and weaving crazy tales.

Their favorite room is the dungeon. What does that tell you?

Someone is always in the dungeon.

Why is the king stuck in between the walls of the castle? And why is the horse looking down at him from above?

With all of her Christmas loot, the castle took a back burner for a couple of weeks.

Then Joe filled the her treasure chest with treasure (previously known as shiny, new pennies), and the infatuation began anew.

The king uses his loot to play hopscotch. Sometimes, he lines them up and counts them.

The king is in his counting house, counting out his money…

With all that loot inside, the knights have to sit atop their steeds, just inside the door. They are ready for anything…

… like a giant who comes to look for plunder.

If they aren’t quick enough, the giant may just reach in through a window and steal it.

What I Like About the Fold & Go Castle

Grace loves it. Isn’t that the most important thing?

The Fold & Go Castle is a nice size. It’s big enough for Grace to play with, but it’s small enough to fold together and sit in line with her Little People Busy Day House. When the castle is folded in half, the two are about the same size.

I love the colors. There is an all-pink option, but we went for the more gender-neutral choice. It is classic-looking and appropriate for boys or girls.

A mostly-empty castle leaves the door wide open for creative play.

The drawbridge opens and closes. It’s really cool when it works properly (see below). Also, it’s held together with a rope and not hinges. It seems like the rope will last a long time.

What I Don’t Like About the Fold & Go Castle

The wood is very, very soft. I scratched the castle opening the package. Aside from that scratch, it looks great, but I wonder how it will wear in the hands of a 2-year-old.

The drawbridge is held on by a rope. Through normal play, the drawbridge came ajar and wouldn’t shut properly. I figured out how to fix it, but fixing it was a pain. It happened once; I don’t know if it was a one-time fluke or if it will be a frequent thing.

The people and furniture that come with the castle are too big for it. It seems like they were designed for a much larger castle.  Having said that, however, Grace doesn’t seem to mind. She plays with them and has a good time.

I think the castle should come with more people. There is an option to buy more people, but the only set available includes the 4 people that come with the castle in the first place. Grace was happy to use her Little People in the castle, so we’re going to leave it at that.

The Bottom Line

Every toy has drawbacks. Because I think Melissa & Doug values customers’ opinions, I wanted to point out what I believe to be easily fixable concerns regarding the Fold & Go castle.

Overall, however, I do think it’s a good product. Grace adores it, and I especially like its classic, retro feel. I think all kids (older ones, especially), like to pretend play with a castle and the royals who live there.

Fold & Go Castle Giveaway

Melissa & Doug offered to give one lucky Feels like Home reader a Fold & Go Castle just like the one we reviewed.

To enter: Visit the Melissa & Doug store and choose your favorite product. Come back here and report it in the comments.

For extra entries: You can earn extra entries for the following:

1. Follow Melissa & Doug on Twitter and report it in the comments.
2. Tweet about this giveaway and leave the URL for the Tweet in the comments. You may do this daily.
3. Sign up for the Melissa & Doug newsletter and report it in a comment.
4. Post my button on your sidebar. Report the URL for your site in a comment.
5. Subscribe to Feels Like Home and report it in a comment.

Good luck! I’ll use Random.org to choose a winner some time after 11:59 pm on February 16. 2010. The winner was comment #50; she has been notified by email.

We received the Fold & Go Castle from Shopatron, on behalf of Melissa & Doug, in order to evaluate before posting. Shopatron also provided the Fold & Go Castle for the giveaway.

It’s that time again, Dear Reader.

I love Christmas cards. Sending and receiving them are one of my favorite parts of the holiday season. That’s part of the reason that I am delighted to introduce you to Tiny Prints, one of my sponsors. Their button has been in the right sidebar, but I thought it was time for a proper introduction.

I was introduced to Tiny Prints when I received a birth announcement in the mail from my grad school buddy, Emily. I was impressed by the quality of the paper and by the sleek design.

What can I say? I’m a stationary snob; I notice these things.

Since I received that birth announcement, I have seen other Tiny Prints cards, and I have never been disappointed.

I’m also delighted to work with a company that supports mom bloggers at every opportunity.

At any rate, we are buying our Christmas cards from Tiny Prints this year, but I don’t want to show the exact one. It would ruin the surprise for my family and friends who will be getting on in the mail.

That, and we haven’t had our holiday photo session yet. I know; we’re cutting it close. We like to live on the edge.

I have picked out my favorite designs, however, and I want to share a few of them with you.

The one I have printed may or may not be the same as those below. You know, because we haven’t actually had our photos taken yet.

Working with the photos I have, this is my favorite. I love the green and red together.

I am constantly impressed by the variety of designs that Tiny Prints offers. There were several scrapbook-style cards like this one. I really liked them, too.

If we end up with a bunch of pictures that we love, I may go with one of these.

I think this is my most favorite card on the Tiny Prints site. Christmas toile with a green ribbon across the middle? Bliss.

I know a lot of our Christmas cards end up in frames, so I thought this might be a nice design.

More toile. I’m a little obsessed with it.

Of course, there are lots of cards that don’t require a photo, too.

Tiny Prints makes sending holiday cards easier.

Until November 15, Tiny Prints is offering a free personal shopper service. You send in the photos, and the Tiny Prints designs will select a few that work the best. You have the final word in choosing and customizing the cards.

Tiny Prints has a free mailing service. You pay for stamps and to have the addresses printed onto your envelopes, and Tiny Prints will stuff and send your cards free.

If you already have your pictures, Tiny Prints holiday cards are 20% off until midnight on November 10!

Have you ever heard the commercial that says, “We’ll see you the whole seat, but you’ll only need the edge!”?

I didn’t know that applied to Disney On Ice.

True, I hyped it up a little in preparation, and Grace told everyone we met that,

We’re going see something very special today!

But when we approached the arena, and she saw the Disney character posters, she nearly jumped out of her skin.

The show started at her bedtime, and she would wake up the following morning with a temperature of 103.5 (the flu), but that did not deter her from jumping up and down on her seat.

MICKEY MOUSE! She squealed with her hands up to her face. It’s MICKEY MOUSE!

Try though she may, she could not sit down.

Mickey and Minnie Mouse were in most of the performances. There was an UnBirthday party, a Valentine’s Ball, a Hawaiian luau, and a celebration of festivals from around the world. They were all fun and catchy.

Grace spent most of the first half of the show on her feet, most of it squealing and laughing.

Except, there was a Halloween party with villains from a variety of different shows. Grace was afraid and hiding behind the (very tall) man in front of me. I thought the Halloween party was too loud, and it went on far too long. We could have done without that performance entirely.

It did end, though, and Grace forgot all about it.

When I asked her favorite part, she said, without hesitation, Mickey Mouse. And Minnie. Mouses. The mouses my favorite. And the doggies. My love doggies.

That was, of course, on the drive home in which I was falling asleep and Grace was wide awake, chattering away.

I think my favorite part was the finale, where Mickey and Minnie and their friends celebrated Christmas. Goofy came down the chimney as Santa, and Grace jumped up again.

I’m not a huge Disney fan, and I didn’t think that Grace would know the characters in the show. In the end, neither mattered.

The show was beautiful, and Grace recognized some of the characters. The rest, she labeled as ballerinas or princesses, and that was okay.

She was jubilant and that was something special.

Disney On Ice Coupon Code

We attended Disney on Ice as part of a promotion from Mom Central and the Feld Family Activators program. I have a coupon code for you to use at many of the Disney On Ice shows between now and the end of January 2010. How cool is that?

So here’s the deal: The coupon code is MOM.

• You can use this code to buy 4 tickets for $44 on weeknight shows (including Fridays) or $4 off all tickets for Saturday and Sunday shows.
• Minimum purchase is 4 tickets, but you can buy more than four at the same per ticket cost.
• The code will not work for Rinkside or VIP seating.
• In order to use the code, enter it in the “MC Promotion” box at TicketMaster.com.
• This promotion cannot be combined with other offers.
• Service charges, facility, and handling fees still apply.

Happily shared at A Thousand Words Thursday, Show and Tell Friday, Hosted by Cecily, Friday’s Foto Finish Fiesta, Give Me Your Best Shot, Finer Things Friday, Family Friday, and Beautiful Life

In thirty-two days, I’ll turn 30.

If you need my address to send a gift, let me know.

I’m glad to be turning 30. People in their twenties are often seen as flippant, naive, or carefree. People in their thirties are grown ups.

I’ve been acting like a grown up for a number of years now, and I’m ready to be 30. I am looking forward to my birthday.

The only thing I’m not looking forward to is being 30 and fat. What’s worse is that I’m going to be 30 and fat and totally inactive.

I’ve been overweight my whole life. According to my parents, I was born a normal weight but was excessively chubby by the time I was four months old. The amount of chub on my frame only increased.

At six, I weighed a hundred pounds.

At twelve, I weighed two hundred pounds.

By the time I graduated from college, I weighed three hundred pounds.

Since college, I’ve bounced back and forth between three hundred and three hundred fifty pounds. When I eat well and work out, I am on the low end. When I don’t, I float back up.

In my almost thirty years, I’ve followed dozens of different diet plans. Eating, not eating, liquid diets, dietitian-supervised diets, protein-only diets, restricted calorie diets… You name it. I’ve tried lots of diets, lost lots of weight, and I have been unsuccessful at keeping it off each time. The only two things I haven’t done to lose weight are take pills and have surgery, and I don’t intend to.

I do, however, like to go to the gym. I don’t like to get sweaty really, but I do like lifting weights. I like how my body feels when I lift weights. I feel strong, physically and mentally. I like seeing progress; being able to add reps or sets or minutes is a reward in itself.

Since Grace was born, I’ve found it harder and harder to find time to work out. I’d like to go to the gym, but I can’t find a good spot in my day for it.  I could get up an hour early and go to the gym before work. Our day care doesn’t open until just before my work day starts. I could go right after work, but that means Grace would stay at day care for an extra hour, and I’d miss an extra hour of time with her. I could go after Grace is in bed, but that often happens around 8pm, and the gym is closing.

There’s no good time to go, so I just don’t.

I borrowed a treadmill from my mom, but it was hard to use. I didn’t like walking and staring at the wall. I couldn’t get into it.

Then I bought an elliptical machine. I used the elliptical machine for 10 minutes a day (that was all I could handle before I became I got too winded and dizzy) for weeks, but I didn’t see any results. I couldn’t get into that, either.

I bought a Wii so that Joe and I could be more active together, but Wii Sports doesn’t provide much of a workout. Then I bought WiiFit, but I gained a few pounds and am now too heavy to use it.

I didn’t have any viable options for working out.

Until now.

Earlier this year, I saw on Twitter that Donny Claxton and his wife were participating in the EA Sports Active 30 Day Challenge. I started reading Donny’s blog, The Dad Center. Donny talked about his lifelong struggle with his weight, and he talked about buying a WiiFit and then exceeding its weight limit. In many ways, I felt like I was reading my own story. I couldn’t wait until the EA Sports Active was released to the public in May. I talked to Joe about getting one for my birthday.

A few weeks later, I was selected to review the EA Sports Active, and I was delighted. I want to be 30 and healthy. I want to be 30 and active. I want to be 30 and attractive and sexy. I’m committed to being a better role model for my daughter.

And I’m already on my way. Read more about my EA Sports Active experience at Feels like Home Recommends.

Happily submitted to Tuesday Toot, Tackle It Tuesday, Talk About Tuesday, and Works for Me Wednesday

My friend, Kerry, likes to get her boys involved in the kitchen. The following recipe is one of their favorites. Here’s what she had to say about it:

This recipe was fun for all three of us.

My three year old enjoyed watching the sugar dissolve. My one year old liked pouring the water in. Surprisingly, both boys LOVED dipping their cups in the bowl of lemonade, taking sips , and dumping some back in. Guess this pitcher is all ours!

What fun!

Cranberry Lemonade

• Water
• 1 cup sugar
• 6 lemons
• 1 cup of cranberry juice

1. Put 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of water in a pot. Heat the mixture until the sugar has dissolved.
2. Cut 6 lemons in half. Squeeze the lemons until you get 1 cup of lemon juice.
3. Pour the lemon juice, 3 cups of water, and 1 cup of cranberry juice into a pitcher. Add the sugar mixture , stir, and chill.

Grace’s Kitchen Friends

Please join in Grace’s Kitchen Friends! To play along, all you have to do is fill out Mr. Linky below. (If Mr. Linky isn’t there, leave your link in the comments.) You can link up any post that talks about kids and food:

• feeding kids
• cooking with kids
• play with food or play kitchens
• crafts with or about food
• and probably a lot of other kids and food things I can’t think of now.

I’m easy like that, Dear Reader. The only thing I ask is that you link back here to Grace’s Kitchen Friends in your post. I can’t wait to see what your kids are doing!