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Potato chips aren’t exactly a healthy snack, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a kid who would turn them down. What if there was a snack that tasted just as good as traditional fried chips, but without all the unhealthy stuff? Enter Brothers-All-Natural Potato Crisps. Available in Original with Sea Salt, Szechuan Pepper & Fresh Chives, Fresh Onion & Fresh Garlic and Black Pepper & Sea Salt varieties, each contains nothing but potatoes and seasoning.

How is this possible? The chips are freeze-dried, so they’re crispy like regular potato chips but without any oil. We tried the Fresh Onion & Fresh Garlic and Black Pepper & Sea Salt varieties and loved them both. Fair warning, though--the onion and garlic flavor won’t exactly leave your breath smelling fresh, and the pepper and salt flavor has a bit of a kick (of course, I’m a big wimp when it comes to spice). The company also offers Fruit Crisps in several varieties including Fuji Apple, Asian Pear, Peach and Strawberry Banana. Again, nothing but freeze-dried fruit in these snacks, which leaves the crisps light, airy and irresistible. The Potato Crisps contain 35-45 calories per bag and the Fruit Crisps contain 30-70 calories per bag--not bad for a tasty snack.

Brothers-All-Natural Potato Crisps retail for $.75-$1 per bag and the Fruit Crisps retail for $.89-$1.19 per bag. Both can be found at Costco, Whole Foods and other retailers. For more information visit www.brothersallnatural.com.

We’ve gotten some strange things sent to our office, but one of the strangest has to be KI (a Native American word that means "Earth Spirit"), Mother Nature’s Child from Chicago-based Equilibrium, Engery+Education. This plush toy arrived one day and we couldn’t decide what to do with it. The idea behind it is good—it’s actually six toys in one (attached with Velcro), with the head a sun, the arms dolphins, the body planet Earth and the legs pine trees, all in an effort to teach kids about nature. So we let a class of kindergartners try it out, although we didn’t have high expectations.

Funnily enough, the 5- and 6-year-olds loved this toy. According to their teacher, the kids played with it in multiple ways, with some using it as a doll and others taking each of the pieces to play with separately, such as using the Earth as a ball. Although the teacher did talk to her students about the environment and taking care of nature before she put the toy out to play with, she’s not sure the kids really got the message through playing with the toy. However, she did find it to be durable (it’s held up through some 30 kindergarteners playing with it, after all) and thought that it could lead to some deeper discussions if played with at home. So even though we thought it was a bit weird, the kids’ opinions are the most important, and when put to a vote, the majority of the students gave KI an “A.”

KI, Mother Nature’s Child, retails for $30. To order or for more information, visit www.equilibrium-e3.com.

Thanks to “Project Runway” and “America’s Next Top Model,” the fashion industry is very “in vogue.” Even kid stars have fashion lines these days. Encourage the budding fashion designer in your house with the ArtLab Fashion Studio from Smart Lab. The kit contains a light table, 30 acetate wardrobe pieces, colored pencils and drawing paper so your kids can create and color their own fashion masterpieces.

Our testing mom tried the kit with her 8-year-old daughter and said that she spent hours creating and recreating outfits. “She has even gone as far as to create books and write stories about the pictures she has made,” she said. Plus it reminded mom of the fashion plates she used to play with as a kid. All in all, both mom and daughter loved this product.

The ArtLab Fashion Studio retails for $19.99 and is recommended for ages 8 and up. For more information visit www.smartlabtoys.com.

Between free scoop day at Ben and Jerry’s and 31 cent scoop night at Baskin-Robbins, it’s been a very ice cream-focused week. Not that we mind—we just wish the crowds had been a little smaller when we went to get our free/discounted desserts. No need to wait in line for these ice cream-flavored treats, though—with Baskin-Robbins Soft Candy and Hard Candy you and your kids can have a taste of the popular frozen treat any time you want.

We tried the Mint Chocolate Chip and Very Berry Strawberry flavors in the Soft Candy and Cookies ‘n Cream flavor in the Hard Candy and loved all three. Deciding between the hard and soft versions is really a matter of preference since both genuinely tasted like ice cream (well, non-frozen ice cream). And no one could tell the difference between the sugar-free and regular versions. Considering how quickly the samples disappeared from our office, we’re pretty sure these candies will be just as big a hit with your family.

Baskin-Robbins Hard Candy is also available in Fruit Medley, Mint Chocolate Chip, Vanilla and Pralines ‘n Cream flavors. The hard candy retails for $1.99 and the soft candy retails for $2.49. For more information visit www.baskin-robbins.com.

Whether you’re painting one room or your whole house, there’s usually not much you can do to dampen paint fumes—even with every window and door open and fans buzzing all around, your house will likely smell like paint for the rest of the day (if not more). On top of the smell, you have to worry about what your family is inhaling with all those fumes. With Mythic Paint, not only can you cut down on the smell, but you can rest assured that your loved ones aren’t breathing in anything harmful.

Mythic Paint is non-toxic, with zero VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds, some of which are greenhouse gases and contribute to global warming) and carcinogens. It’s those VOCs in traditional paint that make your eyes and throat itch and burn. We opened up a quart of Mythic and are happy to report that while it does have a faint paint smell, there were none of the tell-tale fumes that normally accompany a new can of paint. Plus Mythic Paint is available in 1,232 different colors, so you’re bound to find the perfect shade for the room you’re redecorating. One thing to note, though—this paint doesn’t contain any fungicides, as normal paints do, so the company recommends pouring the paint you need into a separate container and resealing the can to store leftovers (that’s always what we’ve done with regular paint anyway).

Mythic Paint retails for $35-$42 a gallon and is available at independent retailers nationwide and online. Call (888) 714-9422 to find a retailer near you or go to www.mythicpaint.com to order.

My husband and I are expecting our first child in just under a month and, like most soon-to-be parents, we’ve gushed over every ultrasound picture, no matter how grainy they might be. We recently received a gift certificate to Stork Snapshots in Naperville for a 3D ultrasound and we couldn’t make the appointment fast enough—we couldn’t wait to get a glimpse of what our son looks like.

Within a matter of minutes of arriving, we were whisked into a cozy room with soft music playing watching our little one’s face appear on the flat screen in front of us (yes, that’s a photo from our session above). The technician was very friendly and ooh-ed and ah-ed with us as if it were her first ultrasound. We were amazed as we watched our son open and close his mouth, rub his eye and try repeatedly to get any part of his arm or hand in his mouth. The technician was very concerned with getting good shots of his face so we’d have a lot to choose from at the end, so she had me twisting and turning to try to get that pesky arm out of the way. The ultrasound itself lasted about 30 minutes and at the end we were able to look through all the shots to pick out which ones we wanted for our prints. Our certificate included the platinum image package, which includes eight 4x6 prints, three sheets of images (we went with a mixture of 5x7s and wallets), a CD-ROM of all the images taken during the ultrasound and a DVD of the session set to music. Keep in mind that the larger the print, the less clear it will probably be (especially if your little one moves around as much as ours). The prints were great for the grandparents and to show other family and friends and we don’t have to worry about running out since we can make as many copies off of the CD-ROM as we want. The DVD was probably the best part of the package since you can actually see him moving around. The technician also recorded his heartbeat, which was then put inside a Teddy bear—just give the bear a squeeze to hear that comforting “thud-thud.”  The premium platinum package also comes with coupons from the company’s partners and a certificate for a free prenatal facial or massage (the company is billed as a 4D ultrasound studio and maternity spa). Even though it is a bit pricey, it was an experience we would have gladly paid for had we not been given the gift certificate.

The Premium 3D/4D Ultrasound Session regularly costs $175 but is currently discounted to $135. The Platinum Image Package, which includes additional images, the CD-ROM and DVD, costs $35. To view the company’s other packages, starting at $85, go to www.storksnapshots.com. Call (630) 579-8400 to schedule an appointment. Stork Snapshots is located at 2011 S. Washington St., Naperville.

Original K’NEX are fairly straightforward—use the rods and connectors to build whatever your heart desires. The new K’NEX Dueling Racers, however, are a little more sophisticated. The kit contains everything you need to make two different sets of two racing cars powered by AA batteries (unfortunately you have to supply the batteries yourself).

Our testing mom tried it out with her 8-year-old son and his friend who are both fairly experienced toy builders. They were really excited to get started and got the blue car together in no time, but the yellow one proved to be much more difficult. In fact, the boys lost interest before they were able to get the second car put together and it took some adult assistance later that night to get it assembled. The mom also warned against letting your kids put the batteries in themselves—they’re tricky to put in and can get jammed if not installed properly. Once all the pieces were together and the batteries were in place, though, the kids had a great time racing the cars around the house. Overall, it was a fun toy, just expect to offer some help to younger kids.

K’NEX Dueling Racers are recommended for ages 7 and up and retail for $19.99. For more information visit www.knex.com.