Wondering what to do with your Jumping Bean jump card now that the inflatable play center closed down?

If you have an old Jumping Bean card, Bouncing Angels, the indoor inflatable play center that replaced the Bean, will let you jump for free from 5-7 pm and half price any other time. Bouncing Angels also has all the jump cards there that were on file from Jumping Bean.

Thanks to SouthernMamas reader Sarah Newman for that tip.

The play & party entertainment center opened this year in the Jumping Bean’s former location @ the Victory Drive Shopping Center, 2123 E. Victory Drive near Skidaway Road. For more info. call: 912.691.8797.

In addition to regular, open play, the center’s available for birthdays, field trips, mommy clubs,  group events etc.

Tell them SouthernMamas sent you!

During these hard economic times, it’s nice to get a break every once in a while.

In response to the economy, Callaway Gardens, a family resort in Pine Mountain, Ga., is offering complimentary admission for February during their “Be Our Guest” event. Click here to find out more.

Take in the Cecil B. Day Butterfly Center, with more than 1,000 tropical butterflies, watch the Birds of Prey show, enjoy the gardens’ trails and more.

RuffleButts.com is having a special freebie sale.

With the purchase of their knit-fuchsia RuffleButt crawler pants, you get a FREE matching ‘High Maintenance’ Tee, valued @ $23.

Please click here to visit the RuffleButts website.

Beth Ewing. Congratulations!

Beth wins a free photo session from Silly Goose Photography on location in the Bluffton area.

Silly Goose Photography specializes in on-location photography (the beaches, May River), babies, children and their families.
Contact Silly Goose by emailing wjdpowell@hargray.com or call 843.706.9968.

Need we say more?

Free Shipping at Robeez.com on orders over $75!.Get the new Robeez Tredz along with a pair of Robeez soft sole baby shoes!

New Robeez Tredzl! – View the innovative new toddler footwear by Robeez.

We heard from a lot of SouthernMamas readers when we posted earlier about the best Savannah-area preschools and day cares. Thank you.

Now we’re asking for your help yet again. We’d love to hear your input on the best preschools/day cares in the Hilton Head Is./Bluffton area.

SouthernMamas reader Elizabeth Dulaney, who moved to HHI about a year ago, emails she’s looking for a daycare/preschool program in HHI for her daughter this summer. “I need something for three days a week. I have toured some of the bigger daycares and I would prefer something smaller possibly in a church or just an overall smaller more personal setting.”

Feel free to comment below or email your input to anne@southernmamas.com.

We’re all cutting back these days.

Babycapes – a SouthernMamas sponsor – is making it a little easier to save money.

Babycapes is trying to stimulate the economy with an “American Recovery Sale” offering Babycapes at nearly 40 percent off retail pricing.

Click here for details of the sale.

Babycapes fits over the harness strap, allowing you to slip a child into and out of a stroller or car seat without unbundling and rebundling.

Babycapes are one-size-fits-all for infants to preschoolers and come into cuddle-worthy, machine-washable fabrics like Minky Sherpa Suede and Minky Cuddle

The mom-invented product is simple to put on or take off, even while holding a squirming child. From your arms to the car, there is no need to remove Babycapes. In the car, babies can move freely. When the car warms up, Babycapes can be removed or replaced without unstrapping the child.

Mom’s taxi (and mom) can only take so much ferrying to and from one kids’ activity to another.

That’s why CoachWayne2GO brings the gym to you.

Rather than drive across town to a studio, you can have the CoachWayne2GO team of gymnasts bring gymnastic and tumbling instruction to your neighborhood or even your child’s school. CoachWayne2GO currently offers classes at The Landings, Southbridge, Savannah Christian Preparatory School, Bluffton and Hilton Head Island. Click on those locations to find out about the classes offered there.

A mobile gym. How convenient is that? Even better, these instructors are real pros.

Coach Wayne Evans has taught tumbling and gymnastics since the early-1980s. He most recently was the head cheerleading coach at Savannah College of Art and Design, a post he resigned in 2007 to focus on his mobile gym business.

The mobile gym includes instructor Zuzana Sekerova, who is Coach Wayne’s wife and a 2004 Gymnastics World Cup Gold Medalist and two-time Olympian. Coach Wayne and Sekerova met about six years ago when she was in search of a tumbling coach in the United States.

CoachWayne2GO teaches budding gymnasts, as well as cheerleaders, martial artists, baton twirlers, dancers or anyone else who needs to improve their tumbling skills.

Sign up by calling 1-888-548-4545 or 912.238.1747 or email: Coach@CoachWayne.com.

And give mom’s taxi (and mom) a much-deserved rest.

CoachWayne2GO  is a sponsor of SouthernMamas.com.

Now that I am a mother of two, I’ve been hyper sensitive to whether I’m favoring one child over the other.

That means canning the cooing at my 7-week-old daughter the minute I see my toddler staring at me as though I just offered to trade him to Blagojevich for Obama’s Senate seat.

Of course, I love both kids equally and there certainly hasn’t been enough time to pick favs. But it’s made me think a lot lately about the whole “favorite child” issue. How common is it? Do all moms have favorites? How do you prevent it? And what are the effects on the other not-so-favorite children?

Writer Laura Bennett takes a fun spin on the favorite-child question in a piece she wrote for a Web site that’s my latest guilty pleasure, The Daily Beast. Check out her essay “The Dirty Little Secret of Motherhood”. Here’s a quote from it:

“If you swear you have no favorite, and think you are fooling your kids, you’re fooling yourself. Just because kids are short, they aren’t stupid.”

The writer definitely intends to be more humorous than heart-breaking, but still, I can’t help but hope she’s wrong. Please, moms-of-more-than-one, please tell me you don’t all secretly have favorites!

This week, Silly Goose Photography is giving away a free photo session. The winner will be able to choose the location for the shoot in the Bluffton area, perhaps Church of the Cross, Palmetto Bluff, and the Oyster Factory.

Photographer Janet Powell started Silly Goose as a way to fuse her passion for children with her passion for photography. Check out examples of Janet’s work to the right or click here see even more.

Here are the rules:

To enter to win, email your name and the correct answer to the following question to anne@southernmamas.com. “Newly hatched” is the name of the newborn portfolio; “flocks of geese” is the title of the families portfolio. What’s the name of the kids portfolio? Hint, visit the site by clicking here, then scroll down to featured galleries.

The goal of Silly Goose Photography is to capture life’s precious moments as they happen – with a “silly goose” flair. Specializing in on-location photography (the beaches, May River), Janet loves to capture babies, children and their families as they are: no pretensions. The result is innocent beauty captured forever.

Smitten with hand-smocked children’s clothing?

Then be sure to check out a special showing 10 am-4 pm Sat. Jan. 31 of Orient Expressed Children’s Clothing @ Cadre Shops, 2485 US 17 South, Richmond Hill.

You’ll swoon over Orient Expressed hand-smocked dresses, bishops, shortalls and longalls; hand-smocked baby clothing, and handmade sweaters.

Orient Expressed’s specialty is matching brother sister clothes, holiday clothing, smocked garments, smocked dresses, smocked john johns, smocked bishops, monogrammed clothes and heirloom sewing.

You will also find Easter clothing, Christmas outfits, Halloween garments, flower girl dresses, first communion dresses and all sorts of special occasion clothes for children, making it especially easy to match twins or triplets. Sizes 3m – 10.

Rebecca Pallone,  local rep for Orient Expressed, will be @ Cadre Shops  with a full line of samples from the Spring/Summer 2009 collection. Come by and bring a friend.

Unable to attend the free showing this Saturday? Private appointments to view the clothing line can be made until Feb. 7 by calling Rebecca Pallone @ 912-695-7755.

If you order from the Orient Expressed Web site, be sure to put down Rebecca Pallone’s name so she’s receives credit for the sale!

OK, OK, we fully realize applying to a funded (i.e. FREE!) pre-K program isn’t the equivalent to trying to get into an Ivy League.

But it can be stressful and every bit of info helps. So below is a lowdown on the dizzying application process, which runs Feb. 2-March 16, and the nerve-wrecking lottery held @ the school sites @ 10 am March 18. You can attend the lottery drawing to see if you child gets in to the pre-K program of your choice or wait to be notified in writing of acceptance or waiting list status during the week of March 23.

Applications will continue to be accepted after the classes are filled, but they will be placed on a “waiting list” in the event that openings occur in the pre-K classes.

The most surprising tidbit from the info below is that you can only apply to TWO different schools and that your first choice must be the school in your attendance zone.

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS:
1. The child must be 4 years old on or before September 1, 2009.
2. The child must be a Chatham County resident.
3. If your child is selected, the following required documents are needed: Georgia Immunization Certificate #3231, certified birth certificate, social security card, Eye Ear & Dental Certificate and proof of residence.
OTHER IMPORTANT INFORMATION:
1. The program is full day. Check with your school for the starting and ending times.
2. You can apply at two different school sites; however your first choice must be the school in your attendance zone.
3. You are required to show proof of residence when submitting an application and at the time of registration.
4. Transportation will be provided to children who are on the existing bus routes for each elementary school. No transportation is provided to Windsor High School, Woodville Tompkins, or Savannah High School.
5. Before and after school programs are provided at most elementary school sites. Call your school for further information.

HOW TO APPLY
Parents must apply to the pre-k school site within their *designated attendance zone and one other additional site of their choice. (Only two applications can be submitted)
Complete the application and return it to the school site(s).
The first date to return applications is Mon., Feb. 2. Please contact the school if changes in your address or telephone number should occur after the application is submitted.

Here is a list of all the schools in Chatham County that offer the free pre-K program. Applications will be available at the school sites.

Thanks (once again) to SouthernMamas reader Kari Hunter for providing this info!!

First Baptist of Rincon Weekday Ministries was voted best day care by the people of Effingham County.

The child care center on Highway 21 @ 6th Street in Rincon offers day care for 6 weeks- 12 yrs of age. The center serves afterschool children from Rincon, Blandford, and Ebenezer Elementary. There is also have a private Pre – K and two K-3 programs.

For more info, call 912.826.2213 or click here.

Amy Perry.

Congratulations, Amy. You win an on-location photo session, valued at $75, from Stacy Martinez Photography. Let us know how it goes!

Thanks to everyone who entered the giveaway. You ALL were correct. A typical Stacy Martinez portrait session lasts about one hour.

Stacy Martinez Photography specializes in wedding and portrait photography. SMP’s portfolio also includes military – families and deploying or returning troops – commercial, headshots, any type of event, beach and pet photography.

Click here to see examples of her work.

Set up an appointment by calling 912.308.1427 or email stacy.martinez@comcast.net.

Middle of January isn’t too soon to start planning for St. Pat’s & Easter (April 12)

Kate Rees – a unique, online shop with a limited line of custom boutique, finely finished garments for girls and boys, can help. Kate Rees offers classic, traditional, personalized outfit for each and every holiday.

Check out the St. Paddy’s Day ensembles by clicking here. Or the cottontail time outfits perfect for Easter Sunday.

Each outfit is made individually, not mass-produced, and is appliquéd or monogrammed to your specifications and is made especially for your little one.

Kate Rees is a sponsor of SouthernMamas.

Kindermusik’s Spring ’09 semester begins NEXT WEEK with classes four days per week, in five locations. There’s still time to sign up. Email music@instrumentalinks.com or call 912.728-KEYS (5397)

Here are the age groups for the classes below.

Village = Hickory, Dickory Tickle & Bounce/Rhythm of My Day (newborns to 20 mos.)
Our Time = Fiddle Dee Dee (18 mos. to 3.5 years)
Imagine That = 3-5 years
Sign and Sing = 6 mos. to 36 mos.
Family Time = 0-7 years combined

Monday mornings, Savannah Southside (7410 Skidaway Road):
Village class
Sign and Sing class.

Landings classes, Monday afternoons.

Tuesday mornings, Wilmington Island:
Our Time class.
Village class.

Wednesday mornings, Richmond Hill:
Village class.
Our Time class.

Saturday mornings, Savannah Southside (321 W. Mont. XRoads):
Village class.
Our Time class.

No local schools made Schooldigger.com’s Top 10 Best Georgia Elementary Schools. Surprise Surprise.

Schooldigger.com is a site dedicated to test scores, rankings, student/teacher ratios, ethnic makeup, and scores of other metrics and information for over 120,000 elementary, middle and high schools nationwide. They list statewide public school rankings from best to worst.

You can look up a certain school’s rankings, find a school near a particular address, and also find a state’s best 10 schools and worst 10 schools. One local school made Georgia’s Bottom 10 Worst Elementary Schools: Spencer Elementary.

The only local grade school to make the site’s top 30 Georgia Elementary Schools is South Effingham Elementary School.

Thank you to SouthernMamas reader Kari Hunter for the head’s up about Schooldigger.com, a helpful, albeit somewhat depressing, resource.

SouthernMamas reader Tanya emails with a question that can rattle any parent: where to send your child for pre-K?

Tanya writes “I am interested in knowing if anyone has any experience with any of the Savannah pre-k programs?  My son will be 4 in April and will be eligible to start this fall.  I would like to send him to Georgetown Elementary, where we live, but am concerned if we don’t get in.  I would like to have a back-up plan.  Thank you.”

The entire process involved with the Georgia-lottery funded pre-K is quite daunting. I, too, would love to hear from other SouthernMamas about the best local pre-K programs. As well as any tips you have on handling the lottery system you have to enter to try to get your child into a state-funded pre-K. Please comment below!

Completely clueless about Georgia’s free pre-K programs? Click here to read more about the funded (i.e. FREE!) pre-K program and the lottery you have to enter. Children must be 4-years-old prior to or on Sept. 1, 2009 to be eligible for pre-K,

Applications for the free pre-K will be available Mon. Feb 2, 2009-Mon., March 16, 2009. Click here for a list of places where you can pick up an application.

Here is a list of all the schools in Chatham County that offer the free pre-K program.

Professional mother-and-child, family and children portraits are cherished treasures.

They’re even better when they’re FREE.

This week Stacy Martinez Photography is giving away an on-location photo session, valued at $75 to a lucky SouthernMamas reader. Check out examples of her work to the right or click here to see even more.

Here are the rules on to win the photo session.

The giveaway is with the purchase of prints that start at $2 or purchase the CD of photos which is $100. The winner’s choice.

Stacy Martinez Photography specializes in wedding and portrait photography. SMP’s portfolio also includes military – families and deploying or returning troops – commercial, headshots, any type of event, beach and pet photography.

Set up an appointment by calling 912.308.1427 or email stacy.martinez@comcast.net.

Is there anything better than a little ruffled bottom?

Yes, a RuffleButt bargain!

These crawler-style pants pictured to the right are on sale. The soft 100-percent cotton provides gentle protection from hard floors and carpet burn, then perfectly transitions to a trendy capri as she grows.

Available in a wide array of colors, this RuffleCrawler was made to mix-and-match perfectly with coordinating long-sleeve tees, short-sleeve tees, and knit hoodies.

Please click here to visit the RuffleButts website. Then click “on sale.”

Shopping @ Rufflebutts helps support SouthernMamas.