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Princess Linens offers personalized baby clothes, personalized baby gifts, baby blankets, personalized burp pads and bibs, and sibling gifts. But they’re not just another online baby store. Instead, Princess Linens is the creator of the Doodlebugz Crayola Collection that has been featured in both Wonder time and Parents magazines. Princess Linens are now an official licensee of Crayola, which means their crayon keepers, aprons, purses, dufflebags, and Doodlebags have the Crayola seal of approval for quality, creative vision and innovation.

We adore the Doodlebugz Crayon Apron!

Princess Linens sent me a personalized crayon apron for Lucie. The apron comes complete with a small pad of paper and 10 Crayola washable crayons. (The sheep is Lucie’s.) You don’t have to worry about sizing because the apron has an adjustable hook and loop closure in the back. This makes the apron easy to put on and take off. Plus, it will grow with your child. The apron sells for $17 plus $10 for personalization. It comes in solid pink or striped. There’s also a crayon tool belt for the boys. (See below for a discount coupon code.)

As soon as Lucie saw it, she squealed with delight. She immediately put it on, and we loaded up the apron with crayons. Then she went outside to show her dad and to do some drawing. What appeals to both of us is that the apron is not only for art, but for dress up and cooking. It also makes a handy place to put your notepad if you’re a junior reporter.

In fact, Lucie wore it so much the first day, it was rather dirty. I washed it in cold water and dried it flat per the directions. (The care tag says to remove crayons first before washing, which made me laugh.) The apron cleaned up very well, and retained its color, shape, and “newness.”

Get 15% off your purchase

I’m in love with the Doodlebugz Crayola Collection and will be buying several for my nephews as birthday and Christmas presents. Also, the Doodlebags and crayon keepers are great for trips as they keep all your child’s crayons in one place, not rolling around the back seat or floor of the airplane. You can stash these in your purse, a diaper bag or a school backpack, too. (I know these are for crayons, but would love it if Princess Linens made sets for Crayola markers, too. Hint, hint.)

Just for my readers, Princess Linens is offering a coupon code - FEAST15 - for 15% off your purchase. Just use the code when you check out.

I found out this morning that My Readable Feast is the featured blog on TodaysMama this week.

What’s TodaysMama? Well, it’s a social networking site for moms that provides personal, professional and parenting resources designed to foster a greater sense of identity, empowerment and connection for women and mothers everywhere.

The site also provides exclusive columns, features and tips in its Expand Your Perspective section from established authors and experts. Mamas share aspirations and find inspiration on the site’s Dream Big section, and groove and sway to the music on the site’s MamasMix.

So if you’re stopping by, welcome!

And if you’re looking for some summer activities and book ideas, here are a few places to start:

Compared to most of the families on our block, we do a good job with our recycling. While most of our neighbor’s garbage cans are overflowing, ours is not. Instead, we have two to four bins of recyclables at the curb most weeks. (No we don’t drink a lot of beer. It’s mostly the weekly remains of two newspapers, a dozen magazine subscriptions, too much junk mail, boxes we get in the mail, milk jugs, and food and soda cans.)

The kids are very good about putting their trash in the recycling bin. If anything, they think everything goes into it and I have to explain only paper, cardboard, glass, cans and #1/#2 plastics.

I get frustrated when we can’t recycle a plastic because it’s not the right type. I literally feel a tinge of guilt when I throw an empty #5 yogurt container in the trash. Unfortunately, there’s no local recycling place that I can take those containers to - the nearest one is in the next county. Since it’s a 1 hour round trip, the gas we’d be using wouldn’t make it worth it.

Recycline Preserve toothbrushes for clean teeth and a green earth

That’s why I was excited to receive two Recycline Preserve toothbrushes to review. Available in seven vivid colors, the handle is made from recycled plastic like Stonyfield Farm® yogurt cups. They come in a reusable travel case and are available at Target stores nationwide for only $2.04. (There’s kid sized toothbrushes, Preserve Jr., too.)

When it is time to replace your toothbrush, you send the toothbrush and case back to Preserve using their postage-paid label to be re-processed into plastic lumber for picnic tables, boardwalks and decks.

Recycline also makes razors, toothpicks, tongue cleaners (!), tableware, and kitchenware. Preserve products are available at Target, Trader Joe’s, and Whole Foods Market. Preserve Kitchen is carried exclusively at Whole Foods Market.

Click here to save $1 on the purchase of 2 Preserve or Preserve Jr. Toothbrushes.

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It’s a great time of year to make homemade popsicles. I was inspired by a recipe from Pops!: Icy Treats for Everyone by Krystina Castella that was in last week’s Denver Post:

Grape Pops

Makes eight 6-ounce pops.

Ingredients:

1. 1 1/2   cups seedless red grapes, halved
2. 4 1/2   cups white grape juice

Directions:

1. Divide the grape halves among the pop molds.
2. Pour in the grape juice and insert the sticks. Freeze for at least 6 hours.
3. Remove from the freezer; let stand at room temperature for 5 minutes before removing the pops from the molds.

Then I started researching popsicle molds online. Oh. My. Goodness. There are such cool ones out there like the Tovolo Green Shooting Star Pop Molds, the Tovolo Blue Rocket Pop Molds, and the Tovolo Yellow Groovy Pop Molds. They’re only $7.99 each (and eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25 at Amazon).

Healthy, refreshing, and fun - what else could you want? Have a blast with some homemade popsicles!

Since the price of gas has almost doubled since last year, I’m seriously considering using EZSchoolSupplies.com to shop online for my children’s school supplies. Last year, I must have driven to the various office supply and discount stores at least a half dozen times. With each trip being over 30 miles round trip and taking over 40 minutes, I can’t do go through that again without major damage to my patience and wallet. In fact, now that Nathan and Lucie have discovered the shredders at Staples, it’s practically self-inflicted torture!

Shop Online with EZSchoolSupplies.com

Denver-based EZSchoolSupplies.com has been doing business with moms online for five years. Their mission is to make life easy for moms when they are shopping for school supplies.

They provide this service to thousands of schools and parents across the country. Mothers love them because they can order online the exact school supplies requested by the school or the teachers for each specific grade level and have them delivered right to their home.

Worried that they won’t have exactly what your child’s teacher or school wants? Don’t worry! EZSchoolSupplies.com offers over 26,000 brand name items on their website.

Raise Money for Your School with EZSchoolSupplies.com

Not only can you shop for school supplies online with EZSchoolSupplies.com, you can help your school earn cash or supplies. Every organization that enrolls with EZSchoolSupplies.com will receive a 10% donation of the total net sales. See their FAQs page for more information on how this program works

Can EZSchoolSupplies.com Really Save Me Money?

EZSchoolSupplies.com’s prices are competitive with stores like Target and Wal-mart. Still, certain individual items might be slightly higher. However, with gas prices being so high and considering that moms have limited time to shop and help out their children’s schools, I can’t think of a smarter service. Visit EZSchoolSupplies.com’s website today!