Last year I discovered that you can mold hard boiled eggs into fun shapes using an egg mold and ice water. The process to shape the egg is quicker than boiling eggs and the result is cute and fun for children and adults. And it is a big hit in the bento community!

To get started you need an Egg Mold. You can purchase a variety of Egg Molds from Amazon. They usually come as a two-pack, but I have seen a Hello Kitty Egg Mold which sold by itself. Here are some cute designs to consider, prices start at $3.60 for a set.

• Hello Kitty Boil Egg Mold
• Rabbit and Bear Egg Mold
• Fish and Car Egg Mold
• Heart and Star Egg Mold

STEPS TO MOLD YOUR EGGS:

1. First, you boil your eggs like normal. Have trouble boiling eggs? Try Emeril’s Perfectly Boiled Eggs directions.
2. Next, get a bowl of ice water ready. You want enough cold water to submerge your egg molds and I add lots of chipped ice.
3. Once the eggs are done, remove them from the pot and start peeling the shell off. You want to do this when they are still warm. I have used either a towel to hold onto the hot egg as I use a spoon to remove the shell. I also will run the eggs under cold water as I remove the shell, which also helps remove any tiny pieces of shell that want to stick to your egg. Either method works fine.
4. After I remove a shell, I immediately place the deshelled egg into an egg mold. Try to place it in a way that would best fill the mold once you shut it. Shut and clasp the mold and insert it into the ice water.
5. You will have the egg mold with the egg in the ice water for three – five minutes. Three works fine. Five if you are feeling cautious the first time.
6. Open the egg mold, release the formed egg, salt and pepper if desire and eat!

TIPS: You can be working on multiple eggs at the same time. As soon as I put one in a mold, I deshell the next egg and put it in it’s egg mold and ice water bath. By then it’s time to release the previous egg and I can de-shell a new one. It’s a quick, continuous process. It’s best to have 2 egg molds to work with, though. Thankfully they are mostly sold in two-packs.

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial and tips! Any questions or thoughts, just ask below!

This is solely the opinion of the Mom Buzz. Other people may have different experiences with the product. And don’t forget to enter my other hot contests so you can win and try buzzworthy products! The Mom Buzz purchased the egg molds and thought they were so buzzworthy she shared the item with you!

THE PROBLEM:

People are actually petitioning for brands to stop distinguishing between boy and girl toys. They believe that the toys cause stereotyping and that will reinforce “female” and “male” rolls.

MY TAKE:

Once you get past the Duplo age of big blocks, most of the LEGO sets are full of gray, tan, white and black bricks that build scenes from Star Wars, Ninjas, Harry Potter, Action Heroes, Super Heroes and more. And while girls may enjoy some of these themes – like Harry Potter – for the most part they appeal to boys.

I always say how wonderful LEGOs are, as they help my boys with fine motor skills, imagination and creation, spatial skills, following directions, logic, and prep them for math. And when birthdays and holidays roll around, my nephew and my boys get boxes of LEGOs to play with and create. But you know what my niece and goddaughter get? Zoobles, dolls, clothes, Barbies. So they are given the toys that help with nurturing and pretend play, without the skills of building, spatial reasoning, logic and more.

By the time a girl is 5, just past the DUPLO age, some already WON’T play with regular LEGOs because they are seen as a boy toy. They would have no interest in opening the LEGO packages we have normally seen on shelves. The LEGO Friends line has a little more pink with people with more features which will appeal to more girls than the ones who currently play with LEGOs, allowing more girls to gain the skills that are building blocks for math and logic.

I see LEGO Friends as a positive addition to the LEGO line and WOULD purchase it for my goddaughter who doesn’t play with normal LEGOs. My niece, though, does enjoy the Harry Potter sets.

LAST SAY:

The thing is, boys and girls ARE different. They do play different. There is some crossover, as well. My boys will play with my niece’s toys and my niece will play with her brothers toys. But in the end, the majority of boys will turn anything into a gun, sword or light saber. And the majority of girls enjoy pretend play with dolls and doll houses. But if you can give them a way to enhance their skills in a format they enjoy, it’s win-win. You are not forced to buy a girl a toy in a pink box, buy them what they like. But if it takes a pink box to get them to enjoy building, then thank you to LEGO for filling in that void.

READ MORE FROM MOTHERS WITH OPINIONS:

• LEGO FRIENDS – ARE YOU OFFENDED? – Thrifty & Chic Mom

READ UP on the GENDER CONTROVERSY:

• Gender Controversy Stacks Up Against LEGO Friends

This is solely the opinion of the Mom Buzz. Other people may have different experiences with the product. And don’t forget to enter my other hot contests so you can win and try buzzworthy products!

As adult ladybugs, they will eat the aphids in the surrounding plants. Living in Florida, I come up with a few pictures of the bugs around me. Here are two posts I did last year of local spiders.

• Wolf Spider
• Brown Widow

This is solely the opinion of the Mom Buzz. Other people may have different experiences with the product. And don’t forget to enter my other hot contestsso you can win and try buzzworthy products! The Mom Buzz was not compensated for this buzz.

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Camera+: You can control focus and exposure when taking shots. Uses the iPhone 4LED Flash as a continuous fill light to improve photo quality. Has a stabilizer for fewer blurry shots. Includes a grid so you can line up your shots. Has a 6x digital zoom. Choose from several scene modes to give you the best photo for the occasion, such as backlit, sunset, portrait, night, etc. You can crop your photo to remove unnecessary empty space or distracting elements. Has 27 included effects and 9 additional that are available for a little extra $. And you can also add borders to give your photos a finished look. Once done editing, you can share on Facebook, Twitter, e-mail and Flickr, straight from the app.

Final thoughts: This is my favorite of all my camera/photo apps. A definite must have for better quality pics and so many editing and creative options. My favorite FX are Grunge, Toy Camera, and Tailfins.

Learn more: www.taptaptap.com/camera+

Cost: On sale now for just 99!

4.5 stars out of 3,040 ratings

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Instagram: Instagram has been so popular that I had to try it. Best part, it’s free so there was no reason NOT to try it. Instagram is practically it’s own social network, since you can open your app and see photos of friends you are following, along with the most popular pictures on the app from all users (who choose to share with the public). You can choose to have your pictures only shared with friends. People can like your photos and leave comments on the app. All of the 17 design filters are free and some of the filters automatically put a frame on your picture, but you can remove them with the frame option. My favorite design aspect of Instagram is its Linear and Radial blur effects for extra depth of field. You can choose the center of the depth of field with your finger.

Final thoughts: This is not my favorite photo editor, but as a network it’s fabulous and cool. My favorite aspect of this app is the depth of field options.

Learn more: www.instagram.com

Cost: Free

5 stars out of 58,297 ratings

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Snap&Sketch: Snap&Sketch only does “sketches” of photos, using Charcoal, Crayon or Pencil. But the effect is crazy realistic, like someone really just drew a sketch from your photo. Like the other apps, you can either immediately snap a photo straight from the app or you can choose one from your Photo Stream. Once you choose your medium (pedcil, crayon or charcoal), you can also choose color (black, color or sepia) and line-width. You can share images once done on Facebook and e-mail.

Final thoughts: Another must-have. It’s free and you can make everyone look like they popped right out of A-Ha’s music video “Take On Me”.

Learn more: Snap&Sketch

Cost: Free

3 stars out of 60 ratings. (When I saw this to share with you, I just added my own review and gave it 5 stars!)

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Let’s chat! Have you tried any of the apps above – what are your thoughts? And what photo apps do you use, if any?

This is solely the opinion of the Mom Buzz. Other people may have different experiences with the product. And don’t forget to enter my other hot contests so you can win and try buzzworthy products! The Mom Buzz was not compensated for this buzz. The Mom Buzz purchased (Camera+) and installed these apps because they seemed buzzworthy.

Anyways, we celebrated early in hopes that we can separate Christmas Cheer from his birthday year celebration. At four he already has some BESTEST friends that he adores, so they came over for a pirate-styled party. There was a treasure hunt, some pirate games and a pirate cake.

But even though his party was early, on his actual birthday I was a bit emotional – because he is my BABY. My youngest! And he seems so grown up already! But in some ways, he’ll always be my baby. Although he vehemently corrects me, telling me he is NOT a baby, he’s a boy.

Anyways, I had to share on theMomBuzz, because that’s who I am – the mom behind the buzz. I am a mother first and I am proud of how much my “baby” has grown in the past four years from a teeny 6 pound 15 ounce newborn to a strong and smart 34 pound preschooler.

Happy Birthday, Babe!

xoxo

the Mom Buzz

(your mom)

OTHER  BIRTHDAY POSTS

• Keeg turns 5
• I’m 33

Happy Birthday to Me! Happy Birthday to Me! Happy Birthday to MEEEE! Happy Birthday to Me! And don’t forget to enter my other hot contestsso you can win and try buzzworthy products!

And if you are looking for a gift idea  for a guy in your life – and live close enough to the beach – I definitely suggest surfing lessons. My husband said it was the coolest birthday gift he’s gotten in years. (What does that say about the past few gifts I’ve given him, right? LOL!)

This is solely the opinion of the Mom Buzz. The Mom Buzz was not compensated for this buzz. This is just a piece of the life of Erin T. from theMomBuzz.

My “baby” just had his third birthday party 2 weeks ago. He actually turns 3 on December 21st (today), but due to other obligations we usually can’t get all the friends and family together. So I tried to plan the party earlier and of course it backfired. Someone had a luncheon they were already going to, others had to work, and my niece was in the Nutcracker. But at least – so I thought – I would have two other cousins coming, a few aunts and the grandparents.

But wouldn’t you know, the day before his party I figured something just wasn’t right and took him to the pediatrician where he was diagnosed with conjunctivitis (pink eye) and a sinus infection. The sinus infection was not contagious, but pink eye could be.

So of course, I had to convince my sister NOT to bring my nephew who has corneal dystrophy – and so does she. It is an awful condition, painful condition and pretty much you if he got pink eye on top of it, his cornea would probably split and it would be no fun for anyone to take that chance. And my other nephew is only 2 and there is no way I can tell him to wash his hands after playing with Lochlan.

So in the end my parents and granddad came and celebrated with Lochlan (the birthday boy), Keegan, my husband and me. I still brought out all the cupcakes I made (Scooby-Doo theme), gave him his gifts (LEGOs, a Star Wars Backpack, puzzles and more), and we blew up balloons. My son was SO excited when I picked up the 50 Latex Balloon Kit – he has been dragging it around the house for a week telling everyone it’s for his birthday. So there was no way I couldn’t open it up and blow up balloons for him and his brother. And BONUS, I had left over Balloon Time Stickers from the Balloon Time Create a Face Balloon Kit – so they got to decorate their balloons with silly faces!

In the end, I realized to make a party fun for my “baby”, I didn’t NEED the big party. We just needed some family, homemade goodies, a few pizzas, family, LEGOs and Balloons!

TIPS: Call stores ahead when looking for the Balloon-Time Kit. I visited a Party City (which they do not honor Balloon Time coupons, so avoid them), a Target (but not a Super Target) and finally I had a Toys R Us rep checking their inventory, finding they had it and they had to climb to the top of a rack to find it hidden away! Crazy, right? But I love Toys R Us for going through that trouble!

PRICE: The Balloon Kit with 50 latex balloons, a 14.9 cubic foot helium tank and some ribbon cost $34 from Toys R Us.

This is solely the opinion of the Mom Buzz. Other people may have different experiences with the products, stores, and birthday parties. Don’t forget to enter my other hot contests so you can win and try buzzworthy products! The Mom Buzz received no compensation for this buzz.The Mom Buzz did receive a voucher to purchase a Balloon Time kit as a Balloon Time judge.

Mama

Something happened the other day to my family that really didn’t effect you -  my readers. You may have gotten my out-of-office on e-mail or seen that I was slower to end contests.

My grandmother, Mama,  passed away at 81 from a stroke. She was a HUGE part of my family. She lived with my folks. And they live 5 minutes away from me. She took care of my oldest from when he was 3 months old until 19 months, while I worked full time. She was like a second mom to him those days. Funny enough, she also watched me when I was younger, when my sister was in school and my mom worked.

I talked to her the morning she passed away. She was cooking in the kitchen – as always. She told me how she knew Keegan, my oldest, would be a singer or dancer and make LOTS of money. And we talked about family gossip, my upcoming garage sale, how happy she was that she lost some weight. It was a normal Sunday morning. The boys played in the backyard, my sister and her family came over, my mom came home from work. We all saw and talked to Mama. Then she went out to garden.

From there the story is confusing, for me. My sister and her family started packing to leave. My husband and my other son were putting away the backyard toys. My oldest was with my mom. I was watching TV. Then my mom comes running into the house to dial 911. Somehow my oldest, my singer/dancer, Keegan found Mama passed out in the garden. Ambulances and firetrucks came, she was sent to the hospital, she underwent surgery to reduce the swelling caused by the stroke, but in the end there was nothing they could do but keep her body alive on machines. Mama was no longer there.

Til We Meet Again

So mid-week the decision was to take her off the ventilation system and her family stood with her and talked to her those final moments. We celebrated her life and memory just 6 days later. It seemed like forever, yet too quick at the same time.

Everyone had a different bond with her, of course. Her husband, my Papa, will miss her tremendously after 60 years of marriage. For me, our bond was over baking, sewing and the boys. She taught me the basic patterns for knitting, sewing and crocheting, although I never had her skill. My sister and her were more the “family news’ people and cooking. And I am pretty sure my husband is going to miss all the times she lovingly hit him – she just couldn’t resist as he always did something that was to rile her up in good fun. But one thing remains the same with all of her friends and family – she was loved.

All of her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren will have different memories and together we will have fabulous stories to help keep her memory alive. I’ll miss her tremendously these next few months and I’ll remember her forever.

I love you, Mama!