sweetisu

I’m not going to apologize talking about KangarooBoo on here. It’s not shameless that I talk about my business here - I started this blog way before we started KangarooBoo. I don’t see any shame in talking about something that takes up so much of my time. And KangarooBoo is our third baby. I just wanted to clear that out for all intent and purposes, for future references, and for just in case.

Anyway, I wanted to tell you some of the things we’ve been busying with in the last few months.

We’ve added several brands and literally hundreds of new products to our selections. Brands that we’ve added:
* Petitcollin
* Plan Toys
* Boon
* Green Toys

Petitcollin was founded in 1860, almost 150 years ago! Petitcollin dolls are made in France, the last French factory of dolls that’s still in operation. I adore these dolls. They have a sweet but not overwhelming vanilla smell to them, they are phthalate free dolls and many of them can be used as bath dolls. The best is they have a large selection of boy dolls and ethnic dolls that are usually hard to find!
A few of the Petitcollin dolls. Click here to see more

Plan Toys create toys that inspire imagination as well as promote children’s physical and intellectual development along with being socially & environmentally responsible and maintaining good values. Plan Toys are made from sustainable rubberwood. Trees that produce rubber eventually cease to produce rubber, those trees are then cut down to make room for new ones. Instead of burning the trees like the old practice used to do, these trees are now being used for all kinds of things, including making toys! Fun toys, eco-friendly practices and great value. What’s not to love about Plan Toys??

Boon feeding products are phthalate free, BPA free, and they look really nice and modern. Boon bath products are awesome too. After we started using Flo a year ago, no more bathtub injuries by the stupid faucet! The kids love LOVE using the Fluid sippy cup. The only drawback on the sippy cup is, it cannot be tipped over inside a bag or the liquid will spill out. We’ve been able to get Fiona to drink a lot more water by leaving it around the house near her height level or taking it on walks. The ergonomic design allows her to grab the bottle one-handed really well!

Lastly, Green Toys. Absolutely green, eco-friendly, and completely safe. These toys are made from recycled milk jugs (not kidding!). All made and packaged in California. Not only is it keeping jobs right here in the US, but it’s also reducing carbon imprint caused by enormous amounts of shipping back and forth to overseas countries.

We’ve also added hundreds and hundreds of new items to our already existing brands: Haba, Vilac, Flensted Mobiles, Zid Zid Kids, Vulli, Melissa and Doug, Maple Landmark, Fred & Friends and Estia. Whew. That was a mouth full. Trying to organize it and fit it all in place is even harder!

As always, you can see the new arrival products (being added daily! so check back often) by viewing it here. We send out an occasional newsletter periodically to let people know about new products, and or discounts. Sign up if you’re inclined to get the latest news. The sign up box is at the bottom of most pages on our website.

I originally planned to talk about another very important thing too, but this post is longer than I anticipated. So I’ll talk about that next time.

Thank you to those of you who’ve supported and continue to support us by purchasing toys and products from KangarooBoo, and or by telling others about us. You know who you are! We truly truly appreciate it.

While it is cold here, there’s something very nice and cozy going on. KangarooBoo is having a big winter sale. Find great savings of up to 60% off! Sale ends tomorrow, January 20th!!

Happy shopping!

As always, feel free to contact me with any questions.

Almost everyone knows about Sophie the Giraffe (natural rubber, phthalate-free, food quality paint), a very popular teething toy by French company Vulli. Sophie has been and continues to be very popular in Europe for the last several decades and getting increasingly noticed in America, and among celebrity-parents.

What is little known is the new line of teethers and toys offered by the same great company who’s made Sophie since 1961. Chan Pie Gnon is a cute little word-play with the French word “champignon” which means mushroom. Chan (blue) Pie (pink) Gnon (yellow) are actually three siblings who are adorably shaped like mushrooms. They possess qualities that Sophie has — handmade, natural rubber, pthalate-free and use food quality paint. They also make a fun little squeaking noise when squeezed and each has their name written on their tummy.

Chan Pie Gnon

Perfectly safe, great for grabbing, squeezing, and even chewing!!! And they look so darn cute!

In the last week or so, we’ve gotten some blog buzz.

So I made a page where I list all the blogs that have posted mentions of KangarooBoo. I truly appreciate the kindness and sincerity. I thought I’d share with all of you too. The page will sit permanently on my sidebar to the right, immediately below the “calendar” there (or maybe I’ll move it to the header? not sure yet).

Linky Love Page

My little token of thank you.

Grab some tissues before proceeding if your tears run easily like mine.
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A lot of times I don’t believe things happen for a reason, but if I allow myself to take a closer look to dissect and analyze events and sequences in which they happen, I often end up with the conclusion that indeed, things do happen for a reason.

I “met” Sandy because of this year’s Nablopomo. Her blog is Momisodes. She’s funny, witty, talented, beautiful inside and out, and our two-year-old daughters are exactly 6 days apart. From reading her blog, she’s also likely to have the same taste in food choices as I do. I wonder how often we would hit the noodle joints and dimsum places together if we lived closer and close to good ethnic foods.

Unbeknownst to me, Sandy is also a co-founder of ConnectingMoms, and she wanted to interviewed me! I was very excited at the opportunity and said yes. Here’s the interview link, in which you’ll read about some of the things in my past and where I talked a little about our store KangarooBoo as well. Little did I know she also wrote a very moving post about me yesterday on her blog. I cried when I read her post. I broke down and wads of tissues ensued wiping my eyes and nose.

Thank you Sandy for everything. I am so glad to have met you online and hope we will meet in person some day. I’m sure our girls will enjoy each other’s company as well.

We’re having a big Black Friday sale at KangarooBoo. For today only, take 20% off of your entire purchase!

Go to KangarooBoo.com for more details.

For advance notice of future news, new products, promotions, etc, sign up with our newsletter. Worry not, your email address is safe with us. We hate spam too.

I put a lot of thought into this and took at least 2 hours to complete it. Very crazy.

I was recently tagged by the beautiful Sandy at momisodes AND the gorgeous Michelle at Fabricated Goddess to do the Crazy 8. It’s been DAYS.. wait, maybe even more than a week.. Yikes. So I better get on with it. So here goes the crazies. Thanks for the tags.

8 things I’m passionate about.
1. My kids. I love them to bits and pieces and will do anything and everything to keep them safe. And I know Karate, mama style, and beyatch style. So don’t mess with me.

2. My husband. He carried me through the toughest times of my life: fighting my cancer alongside me just 10 weeks after our wedding, and picked me up and pieced me together for the second time 4 years later, after we lost our 2nd baby. He deserves Husband of the Century Award.

3. My family. Some are too nice and some not so nice, some makes me run the other way and pretend I don’t know them. But I do, and I still love them all the same.

4. Our business. This KangarooBoo is consuming my days and nights and nearly every waking moment I have.

5. Food. I LOVE to eat. If I were to list my favorite foods, it would take an entire page, and more. But at the top would be sushi and dimsum — both unfortunately cost an arm and two legs for ONE meal. There’s no dimsum here anyway..

6. My friends. I know a lot of people, but I have very few good friends. I could probably count my very good friends with one hand and still have spots left. But the ones that I do have, I love them dearly. I live far away from all of them. But if we did not talk for months or even years, we’d pick up where we left off and no one would feel one bit awkward. And they wouldn’t mind that I listed them after “food”..

7. Cancer research / charity. In a retelling of the Aesop fable of the Lion and the Mouse by Mark White, at the end there is a line where the mouse says to the lion, “You didn’t think I could help you, but an act of kindness is never wasted.” There is no amount that is too small when it comes to charity. It might be small to you, but it is not for the one you helped.

8. My computer/internet. It connects me to (way too many) things and people that I would otherwise not able to. Like you yourself! Did you know it also connected me to my husband?

8 Things I want to do before I die…
1. Travel the world with my husband. By flight, by sea, by train. The list is very long, and I hope we will have the funds and energy to do it all. The type of travel we want to do is self-guided. No tours, no cruises. Well maybe a cruise just once to see what the big wah-hoo is about.
2. See all the Great Wonders. I would be happy if I only saw half.

3. See my kids have kids, and possibly grandkids. I was practically raised by my great-grandmother, who passed away when she was 92. I want to experience that, having great grandkids. Probably not carrying them on my back like my great-grandmother did though We didn’t have strollers.

4. Learn how to swim. I know! Can you believe I don’t know how to swim!

5. Live in another state/country.

6. Learn to speed read. I read very slow. My brain doesn’t seem to want to cooperate and translate the data, so I have to read things 2 or 3 times. Sometimes more. It’s a wonder I get anything done, and this is precisely the reason why I don’t comment much on blogs or read that many blogs or read any books. Also if/when I read books, I need to know what happened at the end, RIGHT NOW. So I read as many pages as I can in one sitting..

7. Learn how to be a better public speaker. Sure I can talk for hours and hours and hours… (just ask my friends who had to endure it over the phone with me!) but put me in front of a few people, I freeze.

8. Build an orphanage. Or a few. One summer day when I was a young child, I was at the river doing some washings with my aunt. A box floated by.. my aunt brought it closer to see what was inside. She opened it and saw… a dead infant girl. I saw it too. She said a prayer and sent the box away. I was no more than 6 years old and that memory has haunted me since.

8 Things I say often….
1. Oh shit.

2. You guys, Stop it! What can I say, the kids get on each other’s nerves. They like to play with each other but they both have strong personalities and the result is, mama ends up shouting.

3. What happened? Again, kids-related.

4. What did you do? Yep, you guessed it.

5. What are you doing? OK this is getting old.

6. What’s for dinner? Hubby now cooks some of the meals and I’m not very good with surprise food.

7. Good job!

8. I love you.

8 Books I’ve read recently…
1. Mr. Doodle had a poodle.

2. The Lion and the Mouse

3. Tell Me Why (a science sort of book, toddler level, in Chinese)

4. Chicka Chicka ABC

5. Down by the Station

6. Parents Magazine (does that count??)

7. The Bisquits Collection

8. Fiona’s Magic Fairytale.

* After I finished this and the previous section, I realize just how rooted the kids are in everyday things, in everything.

8 Songs I could listen to over and over…
I’m going to be the only person who will leave this blank. I prefer silence. There aren’t any songs in the world that I could listen to over and over and over. None. Zilch.

Whew. That was the easiest one.

8 Things that attract me to my best friends….
1. Reliability. This has to be the most important thing for me. If I can’t rely on you when I need you, then fergettabout it. Sadly (fortunately depending on how you look at it), my traumatic experiences has shown me which ones I couldn’t rely on.

2. Honesty. If I’m being a jerk, tell me. If I’m making your day, tell me, too.

3. Common interests. If we don’t like to do anything together, then fergettabout it too.

4. Humor. Everything is better when there’s laughter.

5. Rich. (just kidding! I was testing if you’re still awake)

6. Kind.

7. Love/big heart.

8. Shared viewpoints / morals / “Same wavelength” about things.

8 People who should do this Crazy Eights meme:
1. Amie

2. Andie

3. Lisa

4. Elaine

5. Mary Mia

6. Lotus

7. Mumsgather

8. Aimee.

It’s only Monday and I’ve already worked at least 14 hours, and bedtime is still some time away.

Why am I working so hard? I love working on our business, and it’s fun! Growing up, I owned one toy in my entire childhood. And because my brother is the ever-curious-boy who must figure out how everything goes together, couldn’t put the zebra back together again, I no longer had a toy. We always played with whatever nature offered us: rocks/stones, sticks, bugs, trees, etc. So this KangarooBoo.com is a dream come true in more ways than one.

And I’m excited to share with you some recent news! Here are the links:

* My first interview is published on StartUp Princess.

* We were featured today on the Des Moines Register, the local newspaper.

Abso-friggin-lutely newsworthy, wouldn’t you say?

Now KangarooBoo has its very own blog!

It is a space where we make announcements, new features, new brands or new toys, share with you about our media and press coverages, and anything else related to KangarooBoo.com

You can subscribe to the RSS feed to KangarooBoo blog (our “new arrivals” are also on RSS feed!). We welcome you to comment on our blog, make suggestions, comments, or anything else related. We’d love to hear from you.

I probably will cross link the info on my personal blog from time to time, but check there for all the details

Beta test is completed, for now. Hopefully all the bugs are gone or will be gone soon.

SO! We are officially open for business! After months and months of preparation, KangarooBoo is finally here!

Please come by to take a look, sign up, tell your friends/family, stick around (and click around too), check us out! And you just might find something that you’ll want to get for the beloved little ones in your life.

Our store offers natural toys, handcrafted and handmade toys, open-ended playthings, and unique children products for infants and up. We do not have TV character types of toys. We are constantly adding new inventory, as well as new features for our users. So come on over and browse around, we’d love to have you!

Below is a very small sample of some products that we offer. Click on the images to go to the product detail page on KangarooBoo.

Melissa & Doug Food Groups Set

Haba Fantasy Land Jigsaw Blocks

Melissa & Doug Magnetic Fishing Game

Haba Tra-la-la Wooden Clip

Haba Blossoms Pacifier Chain

Vulli Chan Pie Gnon

Zid Zid Kids Mama Popo Cushion

Zid Zid Kids Monkey Bag