It’s also your last chance to buy a gift before Christmas. Perhaps you are short on ideas??  I know that most years I am but this year, I experienced so many wonderful things that I had plenty of gift ideas and wanted to share a few of my favorites.

First up, we’ll start with something you might not have thought of, Rosetta Stone’s V4 TOTALe.

Now even though I am Mexican (half), I don’t speak any. I understand some but don’t speak much at all which is why I wanted to learn so badly.  I really like the way this teaches you and have picked up on enough already to have a small conversation with my husband is a full Spaniard.  It’s been fun and I highly recommend it!   A friend of mine used it to learn German so I know that it totally works and my small successes are proof as well.

Do you work at home like I do? Do you do any kind of contract labor and save receipts for tax time?  I was dying to try this out every since Amy from MomAdvice.com raved about it a long time ago.  I am that person, that person that walks in with the shoebox full of receipts.  It’s gotten ridiculous to be honest so I was thrilled when NeatReceipts offered to send me their product for review.  I am totally impressed by this machine. It’s amazing and I absolutely love it!!! It’s a must have for anyone who needs to keep organized with their receipts.  I only wish I had had it at the beginning of 2010 but I will have for 2011 baby!!  What a fabulous gift huh!  Look for a more thorough review of it, including video over at ELM.

Another of my favorite things is the new NOOKColor.  To be quite honest, this thing is pretty dang cool and I feel like it’s a fabulous alternative to those who can’t afford the high price tag of the iPad.  The features are endless and the quality of the screen images are amazing, just amazing.  You can listen to music, surf the web thanks to the wifi feature, download files, photos and of course read books and magazines and more.  At the price of $250, I can honestly say that it’s worth every penny.  I truly think it’s a great product.  I just attended a webinar that really allowed me to see all that it does and it just blows me away.  It’s such a huge change from the original Nook (B&W) that I also have.  Two thumbs up from this Mom!

BACK that computer up y’all!!  Over the past year, I’ve seen some blogging friends lose all their computer data and it something that just puts that pit in your stomach.  You know you never want it to happen to you but yet have you taken the precautions to make sure it doesn’t?  Probably not!  Another item in experienced in 2010 is Hitachi’s LifeStudio Desk External Hard Drive. Now while I can’t provide feedback on the stability of this hard drive yet since I’ve only owned it for a few weeks, I can tell you that it’s super easy to hook up and start backing up your computer.  You simply plug in the wall, plug in the computer and you’re on your way. It’s definitely priced right for the enormous size of the hard drive and it’s a must for any computer user.

If you’re looking for games, I have a few to recommend in that category as well.

Wii

• Active Life Explorer – Truett cracks me up with this game. It does what it says, it keeps you active and you’re totally exploring new adventures.  Fun for kids!
• Family Game Night 3 – I have to say that my favorite games on this are Clue and Life.  Me and Toby play both of them nonstop.  We’ve always played the board game Clue so I was excited to see this in action on the Wii.  It works the same in a lot of ways and it’s one of regular games we play before bed.  I don’t think I played the game of Life much as a young’un, however, we LOVE to play this.  It’s fun to see who wins at the end because it doesn’t always end how you think it will.  This is by far our favorite Wii game lately!! I must have for every family!
• Disney Epic Mickey -  Truett thinks it’s AWESOME. We’ve only played a few times but so far so good. It’s always fun to have the ‘new’ games out!

XBOX 360/PS3

• Tony Hawk’s Shred – I felt kinda silly at first doing this but once I got the hang of it, I was acting like Tony Hawk himself but on a high of Dr. Pepper.  Setup is easy just takes a tad longer than some things would to setup.  The older boys tried it and also felt silly because well, they’ve never been on a skateboard before. I cracked up at them flailing their arms about everywhere.  lol  fun stuff.
• HALO Reach!! – Anyone who has played Halo must have the final one. It’s awesome, we love it, we love all of them.  For teens and up.
• Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood – Great game. We have all of them and again for the older ones.  We really like the first shooter games.

Well, that’s all for now. If I think of anything else, I might write about it but if I don’t, keep an eye out on my facebook or twitter page for ideas because I’m always spittin’ them out!

The Epson Artisan 810 Printer.  Isn’t it lovely?  I’ve been through a many printers in my day but this one by far takes the cake.  The print quality (Ultra HD) is exceptional and the touch screen is very cool.  One of my more favorite things about it is they Wi-Fi.  My boys can now print from their laptops, making homework reports much easier.  And because we create dvd’s for sports, family activities, and holiday occasions, being able to print directly onto a cd/dvd is AWESOME!  You can print from your iPhone, it uses the Smart Ink System, and even has an app.  Two thumbs up for this high quality, all-in-one printer!

Awww, you’ve seen it the Nintendo Wii, but have been waiting to see if it’s truly worth the money.  Well, let me tell you, it is!  After seeing this around for the past year and a half, and seeing the excitement surrounding it, I finally got one over a week ago.  It’s the coolest gaming system ever and the games to play on it, are endless and full of fun.  Whether you are using it to inspire yourself to do workouts, skateboarding with the RIDE, or racing at DK Mountain; there is something for everyone to enjoy.  What a great way to get those kids off the couch yes?  Maybe even yourself………..

This is probably one of my most favorite beauty products, the Clarisonic Mia Cleansing System.  It’s so dang cute because it’s a travel size so it is smaller than the original Clarisonic.  This is great for me to take with me to the conferences and events to make me feel refreshed, even after those long, crowded 4hr flights.  You can read my full review of it but in short, how it makes your face feel is amazing.  Can’t believe I ever went without it.

External hard drives are fine for weekly backups but when you need portability, they are not so handy.  That’s where the Picture Keeper Drive comes in.  Sitting at 8GB, I can store so many photos to carry with me while visiting family, plug in a digital frame, and even to take the store to get prints made.  It’s functional, small in size but big in storage.

The Sony Pocket Reader is another favorite, mostly because of it’s size. I can easily travel with it and stores up to 350 books on it.  It’s very easy to use, comes in several colors, and has a two week battery charge on a single use! Love it.

I saw the On-the-Go Organizer on Amy’s wishlist and knew that if she’s used every year to stay organized, then it’s sure to help me!  I bought it and got it the other day and I LOVE it! All the different sections and fun little stickers are perfect to help me stay organized.  At under $15 bucks, it’s a great way to start 2010.

First let me say that I was overwhelmed with all the gift ideas I received this year which makes it extremely hard to narrow it down to just a few but I did get it done.  I chose items based on uniqueness, functionality, style, and practicality.  I think with the economy like it is, most people are looking for items they can use to get the most bang for their buck.

The 2009 Gift Guide is up but needs some tweaking so bare with me please.  I’ll be adding products to the gift guide every day so keep checking it out. There will still  be a few featured here over the next couple of weeks as well.

If you are looking for gift ideas for the foodie & kitchen lover, check out My Wooden Spoon’s 2009 Holiday Foodie Gift Guide (which also needs some design tweaking).  I’ll also be adding products their daily as well.

I did some shopping myself over the weekend for Black Friday, how ’bout y’all?  You can see my story via Whrrl! I participated in a fun shopping trip to find the best Black Friday Deals and had a blast doing it! I’d love to hear what you got if you went.

Happy Shopping y’all!

Tips for a successful family game night include:

• 1) Make it a priority!  Mark the date on the calendar and make sure everyone understands that it’s a family date and not to make other plans.
• 2) Add some variety to your game night.  As long as everyone gets to participate and spend that time with each other, it really doesn’t matter what game it is.
• 3) Turn off ALL cell phones and TVs.
• 4) Have snacks and beverages already made and easily accessible.
• 5) Know the rules. Make sure everyone understands the rules beforehand to prevent arguments later.  It always happens..lol

Our favorite games are Scattergories, Monopoly, Hungry Hungry Hippos, Trivial Pursuit, and Dominoes.   Not only does Walmart have low prices on their games right now, they have also provided some fun ideas on how you can turn your family game night into a theme!

• Rock n’Roll Night—Turn your living room into a 50’s diner for Rock n’ Roll Night. The family could play include Twister, watch one of the two High School Musical movies, pull out those old tunes and serve diner themed foods like milk shakes and classic hot dogs.
• Double Trouble Night—Turn family night into trouble fun by playing the infamous Trouble game and bending the rules such as eating with your fingers. Then relax around the TV to watch your favorite Pirates of the Caribbean movie and see how everyone’s favorite pirates get in and out of trouble
• Special Mission Night—This night is about solving puzzle and using your smarts to uncover a mystery. Create or solve puzzles, play Pictureka and consider adding in a movie like National Treasure. Secret receipts of creative snacks might also be revealed!
• Day of the Week Family Night Kit—For a Sweet Tooth Sunday. Walmart would provide the board game Candyland as well as the sugary sweet movie Pollyanna along soda and makings for a homemade ice cream sundaes.

What are YOUR favorite games to play?  What fun themes can you come up with?

What did we play this weekend? MONOPOLY of course! I think that Hasbro makes some of the best games out there.

PJs are from grandparents!

Pony is from Walmart:)

The next domino champion!

Here’s is the 3 girls that were left playing spoons after the rest of us got out.

The kids were having their own fun playing “leg war”.  Basically, it’s like thumb war.  They lay down with their inside hands holding and lock legs.  Who ever can get the other one turned over first, wins!  1,2,3,4..let’s go ahead and start a war…..PLEASE NOTE: IF your kids are sissies, then they don’t need to play because, chances are, one will get hit by a foot.  Luckily, these kids are tough as nails!

And the night wouldn’t be complete without a couple of funny faces!

Happy New Year Folks!