The Mommy Insider is a division of Best Parenting Resources, LLC which is known for its 10 year old local website, AtlantaMoms.com. AtlantaMoms.com has been online since 2001 and has grown to be the most popular online destination for moms to find everything for their family from local boutiques to atlanta family events.
Because AtlantaMoms.com is almost 10 years old and we have a wealth of knowledge about Atlanta, that was most obvious City Edition blog to start with on The Mommy Insider and you will find it here.
We are in the process of expanding out to include City Editions of The Mommy Insider for several major cities including Orlando, Chicago, and New York, all coming soon.
Are you passionate about your city? Do you love to shop, visit local parks, and attractions?
Are you interested in starting your own City Edition blog on TheMommyInsider.com or contributing content for a City Edition here on The Mommy Insider?
We are pros at local guides (see AtlantaMoms.com) and want to help you establish a local guide/blog for your city and give your other blog/website free advertising in return. You may also earn revenue from your City Edition in the future.
Contact me at alicia@themommyinsider.com for more information.
Updated June 25th – Congratulations to the winner of our Rice Krispies Treats Recipe Cookbook giveway, Susan R.!
I’ve decided to enter my star shaped Rice Krispies Treats with raspberry sorbet, Cool Whip, and fresh berries recipe in the Rice Krispies Treats recipe challenge I’m participating in as a Rice Krispies ambassador along with 9 other great bloggers.
Being a part of the July 4th Rice Krispies Treats Recipe Challenge has been a blast for me despite the fact that I’ve been traveling and haven’t been able to make as many recipes as I would have liked. I was able to spend several hours creating a few different recipes and have finally settled on my favorite.. VeryBerry Rice Krispies Treats. The other two recipes I made but am not submitting for the contest are (1) Rice Krispies Treats cup filled with sorbet and fresh fruit, with a chocolate rim, and (2) Rice Krispies Treats chocolate covered bowl filled with ice cream and fresh fruit.
My kids, 10 and 4, had so much fun helping me with the Rice Krispies Treats Recipe Challenge. Madelyn stirred the melting marshmallows and helped put the Rice Krispies in the mix while Sebastian filmed what turned out to be a very shaky video of me going through the entire process of making these delicious Rice Krispies Treats. I am so proud of Sebastian for trying! He did a great job.
Star shaped Rice Krispies Treats with raspberry sorbet, Cool Whip, and fresh berries
Instructions
Make Rice Krispies Treats as usual
Melt 3 tablespoons butter in large pan on low heat
Mix marshmallows in and stir constantly until completely melted
Remove from heat
Stir in 6 cups Rice Krispies
SPECIAL – Separate Rice Krispies Treats mix into two 13×9 inch pans to make two thin layers
Refrigerate for 30 minutes to an hour – not necessary, but keeps the sorbet you are going to put on the soon to be cut out stars, from melting quickly
Once cool, cut Rice Krispies Treats into star shapes with a cookie cutter and put the individual stars on wax paper
Coat 1/2 of the cool Rice Krispies Treats stars with raspberry sorbet (substitute with your favorite flavor, ice cream, or frozen yogurt)
Place a star on top of the sorbet covered Rice Krispies Treats stars
Top with Cool Whip, strawberries, and blueberries
Garnish the plate with fresh fruit and enjoy immediately! 😉
Rice Krispies Treats recipe ingredients and cookie cuttersMadelyn's Rice Krispies Treats star
– So what do you think of my Rice Krispies Treats recipe?
GIVEAWAY! – This contest has ended.
I have been given the opportunity, as a Rice Krispies brand ambassador, to give a lucky reader a Rice Krispie cookbook. To enter to win, leave a comment telling us what your favorite Rice Krispies Treats recipe is and/or your favorite Rice Krispies Treats memory. Entries accepted through 5:00pm ET on June 24th. View official giveaway rules here.
Disclosure: I received a box of Rice Krispies cereal and marshmallows free to use for the Rice Krispies Treats recipe challenge and a gift card to buy additional ingredients (sorbet, Cool Whip, fruit, etc..). I am being compensated for being a brand ambassador for Rice Krispies. My Rice Krispies Treats recipe is being submitted to a contest from which the winner will have their recipe posted on the Rice Krispies Web site and possibly in a Rice Krispies Treats recipe cookbook.
The Spelling Family at Stella's 2nd birthdayPhoto courtesy of 5W Public RelationsBornFree Twist N'Pop Straw Drinking Cup
Last Saturday, Tori Spelling and Dean McDermott celebrated their daughter Stella’s 2nd birthday with a celebratory combination of Barbies, bright pink and BornFree products at their LA home. Infant and toddler partygoers were treated to an all pinked-out party replete with a several foot-high Barbie cake (Doesn’t that Barbie cake look too good to eat?), BornFree Trainer Cups and the latest BornFree Twist’nPop Straw Cups.
BornFree is the world’s leading Bisphenol-A-free (BPA-free) baby brand and is adored by celebrities including Halle Berry, Heidi Klum, Naomi Watts, and Matthew McConaughey among others. Its safe materials range in infant and toddler products from baby bottles and cups to pacifiers and sterilizers.
We just added a bunch of Knit & Yarn shops to AtlantaMoms.com.
Find yarn, knitting patterns, and knitting and crochet classes in Atlanta and Metro Atlanta.
We also feature a few special knitting blogs in AtlantaMoms.com Knitting Stores guide.
If you are looking for a toy and/or activity that will provide your kids (and you!) with hours of fun, challenge, and be something that they will play with for a long time to come.. you will love Calafant cardboard toys.
Madelyn got a Calafant cardboard villa before we left for our Florida vacation a few days ago. I brought the cardboard villa with us to Florida in hopes that it would occupy her for long enough to allow me to get a little bit of work done at some point. Job well done Calafant! Not my job though. I was too interested in watching the kids paint and decorate the cardboard villa to get any work done.
I sat with Madelyn and Sebastian while they painted and I helped Madelyn cut and paste some pictures on the villa. So much for work! Madelyn did an awesome job decorating the villa all by herself.. I just helped by supervising her while she painted and cut & pasted magazine pictures onto the cardboard villa. Oh, I did contribute a little.. I used a brown crayon to draw bricks on one wall.
I have to admit that I had a difficult time letting Madelyn decorate the villa on her own.. there were several times when I wanted to step in and say “no, move that sticker to the right just a tad” or when I thought she should paint something a different color, but I knew while she was decorating the cardboard villa that this is going to be HER villa to play with and as long as she likes the way she’s decorating it and is having fun, I needed to let her be as creative and silly as she wanted. Thus, the final product, a crazy painted, pasted, sticker laden, patchwork style cardboard villa.
This type of play is very important for young kids as it helps build self confidence and allows them to express their creative side. And what is really cool is that Madelyn will actually play with the cardboard villa with her dolls so it’s not like a picture that might get put away in a box after a few days.
Backside of Madelyn's Calafant cardboard villa
Because the cardboard villa requires decoration and assembly this unique toy supplies hours of imaginative and creative play. The Calafant cardboard villa has a balcony and two big rooms on the backside. All of the doors open making for even more imaginative play with dolls and such.
Madelyn decorated the inside and outside of the house with:
paint
crayons
stickers
cut out pictures
The villa is approximately 15″ x 7″ x 16″ when assembled. You’ll get an idea of how large it is when you browse the photographs below.
Calafant makes several cardboard toys including a castle, farm, treehouse, and a pirate fortress.
