reviews

Big Book Of How 501 Facts Kids Want To Know

- brandy3 1 Comment

Time Home Entertainment and Time Kids introduce a brand new book for adults and kids.  The Big Book Of How: 501 Facts Kids Want To know is loaded with answers to questions kids ask, and adults don’t have the answers.

The 192-page book, packed with vivid illustrations and comprehensive reporting for which TIME For Kids is known, helps kids ages 8 and up discover the answers to questions such as: How does a chameleon change colors? How was Mount Rushmore built? How to stay safe during an earthquake? How do you build a spaghetti bridge? How do diamonds form? How does an iceberg form? How do astronauts train for a space mission? How does a lock work? How does popcorn pop? Detailed explanations, more than 200 colorful photos and diagrams, and over 20 “How to” activities help to educate and engage young readers.

*** This book couldn’t have come at a better time, my kids have been full of questions I have no clue about. Lately it’s been about tornados (since all the devastation of the Joplin Tornado). Luckily there is a full spread of how to stay safe during a Tornado, and also explains how it is formed. Now some of the questions in this book, are very simple to answer, like how to make a paper airplane. Since my husband is a Scientist, he already knew the answers to a lot of questions, like how to make crystals or how a hybrid car works.  There are a few questions I think are really silly and I don’t think I’ve ever heard a kid ask like, How do you mark your territory and how do you make blubber.  This book is recommended for ages 8+, but my kids are younger and ask a lot of these questions. It’s a great book to have on hand for those tough to answer questions kids ask all the time.

Retail: $17.95 at www.timeforkids.com/bigbookofhow or retailers nationwide

Release date: June 7, 2011

Disclosure: No compensation was received for this post, a product was provided by the company. All opinions are my own.

Sugar Free Ring Pops

- brandy3

My kids love ring pops, but I don’t like giving them sweets since they contain a lot of sugar. Recently I was introduced to Sugar Free Ring Pops. My kids were so excited to be able to try them.

  • Kids love Sugar Free Ring Pop because the fun plastic ring offers tons of bling to fuel imaginations! Moms love the plastic ring, too – it stays put on little hands to prevent messes, making Sugar Free Ring Pop an ideal sweet for long summer road trips. Plus, parents can rest assured knowing that long-lasting Sugar Free Ring Pop is also fat free, tooth-friendly, and only contains 30 calories per pop.

 

My kids couldn’t wait to try the 3 great flavors blue rasberry, watermelon, and strawberry. They loved them, I don’t even think they could tell the difference that there was no sugar in them. I love ring pops because the kids can put them on their fingers instead of having to worry about them running around with a stick in their mouth.

You can find Sugar Free Ring Pops at sores nationwide, including Walmart and Amazon.com

Disclosure: No compensation was received for this post, A product was provided for my review. All opinions are my own.

Mickey Great Outdoors With Mickey Mote

- brandy3

Join Mickey and all his friends as they explore the great outdoors!

Episode List:

  • Never before Seen: Fish Story– Daisy wants to find a fish friend for her goldfish Goldy-and we help her find her goldfish in the Jungle where we’re aided by mysterious conga drummin Jungle Pete! Boom-boom-bap-boom.
  • Mickey’s Camp Out- Today Mickey and his friends are going to earn clubhouse camp out badges by completing two tasks-setting up camp and fishing for gummy fish. Everyone is planning to camp with a tent buddy, but Donald decides to camp by himself and he soon learns that camping with friends is more fun than camping by yourself.
  • Mickey and Minnie’s Jungle safari– Minnie is determined to snap a photo of a rare Hula Hibiscus that only blooms once a year. So the sensational gang go off on a jungle safari and explore new territory to find the legendary flower.
  • Daisy in the Sky– On balloon day, daisy grabs a large batch of balloons and gets literally carried away along with Minnie and Pluto, who couldn’t hold her down. Mickey Donald and Goofy kick into high gear to save their friends: they use a giant candy cane to rescue Pluto, a party horn to warn animals out of the way, a piggy bank to help weigh down one side, and a toy hammer to fix the ferris wheel.
  • Daisy’s Grasshopper-Daisy has a new pet grasshopper named Wilbur, but the playful hoppin fella hops away-and we help all our clubhouse friends hop after him and find him before the end of the day. Boing-boing!

I love that the kids can interact with the movie, The Mickey Mote allows kids to answer questions during the movie and so the kids actually have to pay attention. The questions are visual and also educational. We have 3 Mickey Motes now so all my kids sit and answer the questions even though only one mote is turned on. My kids want to go camping now that they see how much fun Mickey has had outdoors camping! Plus it was a great change of tune that this dvd has an unseen episode. We usually watch the same episodes over and over again on TV.

Mickey’s Camp Out:

Mickey and Minnie’s Jungle Safari:

Fish Story:

Daisy’s Grasshopper:

Retail: $29.99 for dvd with Mickey Mote but you can find on Amazon for $17.99
Release date: May 24, 2011
Running time: 88 minutes

Disclosure: No compensation was received, a product was provided by Disney. All opinions are my own.

Gnomeo and Juliet Review

- brandy3 2 Comments

Perfect for the whole family, this fresh and funny makeover of one of the world’s most timeless stories features music Sir Elton John, and the voice talents of Emily Blunt, James McAvoy, and Sir Michael Caine. Caught up in a feud between neighbors, Gnomeo and Juliet must overcome as many obstacles as their namesakes. But with flamboyant pink flamingos and epic lawnmower races, can this couple find lasting happiness? Gnomeo and Juliet is an out-of-the-ordinary animated comedy your entire family will love. We just gnome it!        f

Bonus Features:

DVD and movie download

  • Elton Builds A garden
  • Frog Talk with Ashley Jensen
  • Crocodile Rock music video featuring Elton John, and Nelly Furtado

Blu-ray:

  • DVD Bonus
  • 2 alternate endings with filmmaker intoductions
  • Deleted and alternate scenes with filmmaker introductions, including:
  • 1 alternate opening
  • 1 alternate scene
  • 6 deleted scenes
  • The Fawn Of darkness, Featuring Ozzy Osbourne

    •  

    This is a fun kids film on a great classic. I love Romeo and Juliet, but it’s hard to introduce it to the kids because of the violence and death. This a great storyline for the kids, It’s not exactly correct with the original storyline but very close.   There are not a lot of funny parts in the movie, but there are some. At the end Gnomeo and Juliet are trapped by  lawnmower that attacks Juliet’s tower. Everyone thinks they are dead, but they make it through and live happily ever after!     One of my kids favorite parts was when Gnomeo and Juliet first meet and sing. I personally think that adding a gnome with barely any clothes on skipping through through the garden while singing was a hilarious perfect touch to the movie.

    Balcony scene

    Doomed Love

    Gnomeo goes stealth

    Feather Stone

    Retail: $39.99, but you can find on Amazon.com for $24.99
    Release date: May 24, 2010
    Running time: 84 minutes long

    Disclosure: No compensation was received for this post, a product was provided by Disney. All opinions are my own.

Find The Perfect Outfit For Your Build A Bear

- brandy3

Build A Bear is one of the greatest places to have your little one make a furry friend of their own.  They have tons of animals to choose from as well as clothes and shoes. Even accessories like purses, hats and furniture.

We love Build A Bear but since the closest one is 45 minutes away, we don’t go that often. My kids have so many bears/animals that don’t have clothes, so this past weekend we decided to take the trip and pick out some clothes.  Since it’s not Christmas time anymore, we were not able to get Rudolph or Clarice clothes.

Build A Bear also has a new line of clothes inspired by Nickelodeon’s Victoria Justice, unfortunately they were all out of Justice inspired clothes.

My kids did find a bunch of cute clothes though for their furry friends.

This cute little dress is $12.50

Ballerina Dress $10.50

This cute boy outfit was actually two separates. Cars 2 tee is $7.00 and shorts are $6.00

Together with bears and clothing, shoes if you would like. It costs around $30-60 dollars.

Disclosure: No formal compensation was received, a gift card was provided for my review.

Lemonade Mouth DVD Review And GiveawayClosed

- brandy3 76 Comments

When five ragtag freshmen first meet in detention, it seems they have nothing in common. But, through music, they bond and find they have the makings of the greatest high school garage band in history! In the face of incredible odds, Olivia, Stella, Wen, Mohini and Charlie find
they can make a real difference when they learn to lean on each other and let go of everything holding back their dreams.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1d9cxOqkjbY&feature=relmfu]

Bonus Features:

  • Rock along-Rock along with the band to your favorite songs

***This movie is the best Disney Teen Movie that features singing, Better than Sharpay, High School Musical and Camp Rock. 5 teens all in detention come together to start a band, through it all they have so many struggles. Fear, family and competition hold them back a little, but they stand up for what they believe in and in the end make it big. The songs are so catchy they get stuck in your head for days.  I love the Rock along feature, because you can sing along with the band and the lyrics are even posted for you.

Retail: $26.99 but you can find on Amazon for $16.99

Lemonade Mouth Extended Edition is Available May 24th on DVD

I have one copy to giveaway to a US reader.

To enter tell me your favorite Disney Movie?

Extra entries:

  • Subscribe to my feed-8 entries
  • grab my button-7 entries
  • Blog about this-6 entries
  • Follow me on twitter-5 entries
  • Leave a comment on any non-giveaway post-4 entries
  • tweet this-2 entries

Contest ends-June 1, 2011

Disclosure: No compensation was received for this post, a product was provided by Disney, who is also providing the giveaway.

My Little Pinkie Pie

- brandy3 1 Comment

My daughters love playing dress up, not only in dresses their costumes for Halloween too. My daughter has a love for My Little Pony, so when we had the chance to review a costume, we jumped at the chance to explore Pinkie Pie.

The My Little Pony toy line was introduced by Hasbro in the 1980’s and they have been popular ever since. Each pony had its own personality and color and Pinkie Pie is the leader of the other ponies in the land of Ponyville. All little girls love ponies, and your little girl will love wearing the Girl’s My Little Pony Pinkie Pie costume! Pinkie Pie loves everything pink, like balloons and cotton candy. The Pinkie Pie costume features a pink jumpsuit with a pink satin bow around the waist. The Pinkie Pie Halloween costume also has a balloon decal on the hip, showing off her love of balloons as well as detachable tail. This My Little Pony costume is topped off with a character headpiece that sits comfortably on the top of your little girl’s head and features Pinkie Pie’s face and beautiful wavy mane. She will look absolutely adorable for Halloween trick-or-treating!

The Pinkie Pie costume is definitely cute. It’s a one piece suit with a detachable tale, and a hat/mask.   My daughter absolutely loved it from the minute it arrived. In fact my daughter has been wearing it all day today and refuses to take it off. The tail detaches and reattaches with a little velcro piece. The costume features a pink bow in the middle and balloons on the right side at the hip. The mask is very small and is not supposed to be used as a traditional mask. The instructions say to wear it toward the side of the head. The band does not fit under the neck though it is too small. You have to put it around the head like a sweatband, to stay.  This is definitly a great dress up costume for girls.

Retail value is $45.99 but Costume discounters has it for $28.97

Costume Discounters also guarantees the lowest price  on the internet. If you find the identical costume elsewhere within 10 days of purchase at a lower price, they will match the costume price and take off an additional 20%.

Disclosure: no compensation was received for this post, a product was received in exchange for my review. All opinions are my own.

Celebrate Mothers Day With Snapfish

- brandy3

I am not one for fancy or expensive gifts. I love homemade gift s and I really love photo gifts, they are simple and help memories live on. For mothers day this year I am simply getting my mom photos, and I know she will love them. My mother and I live 3000 miles away from each other and she doesn’t have a computer. Pictures are the only way she gets to see her grandchildren.

More than photos, Snapfish offers tons of products you can personalize. Blankets, mugs, mousepad and more.

I received a gift code and am just printing out pictures instead of getting a gift. I will be receiving 109 prints from Snapfish, a lot of them are copies but I figured I could split them up and send them to all moms in my life. My mother, mother in law, grandmothers etc.  The photos always look high quality and come packaged safely.

Disclosure: No formal compensation was received, a $20 gift code was supplied by the company.

Pay It Forward With Pampers GiveawayClosed

- brandy3 390 Comments

In celebration of its 50th birthday, Pampers is recognizing how much parenting has changed over the years, and is sharing their belief that every baby is a little miracle that deserves to be celebrated, supported and protected, by unveiling its Little Miracle Mission campaign – a program that delivers acts of kindness to miracles and their families while encouraging parents to support others.

The brand recently kicked off the Little Miracle Mission Campaign by donating care packages to NCIU’s across the country.

You can help by visiting Pampers Facebook page and pledge to pay it forward by helping an expectant mother in need. Once 2500 people pledge and complete te mission, Pampers will throw  baby showers for expectant mothers nationwide. Plus just by joining the mission you will be entered to win a year supply of diapers and wipes.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxbRdxbBROI]

I was recently sent a gift card to help pay it forward, and at first I passed because I really don’t know anyone in my neighborhood. I was talking with my neighbor who is a school teacher and she said she was attending a baby shower for another teacher who didn’t have very much for er upcoming bundle. So first I decided to donate some unused items I had lying around from my kids including bottles, toys and more. I wanted to do more to help, so I decided to take the Little Miracle Mission and use the money to help her with Diapers. As a mother of three, diapers was the thing I need the most. So I bought some Pampers diapers and wipes to give her. Although I have never met the woman I donated everything to, It’s the goodness of helping someone in need.

I have a $50 gift card from Pampers to help you Pay It Forward.

To enter: Who will you pay It Forward too?

Extra entries:

Go to Pampers and pledge to help in the Little Miracles Mission-10 entries

Subscribe to my feed-7 entries

Grab my button-6 entries

Blog about this- 5 entries

Follow me on twitter-5 entries

Leave a comment on any non-giveaway post-4 entries

Tweet this giveaway-2 entries (can be done daily)

Contest ends 5/23/11

Disclosure: I received a gift card from Pampers who is also supplying the giveaway. All opinions are my own and were not influenced at all.

Dora’s garden Gazebo Playset Review and GiveawayClosed

- brandy3 151 Comments

Playing outside with Dora has never been so much fun, build a garden with Dora. With this buildable playset girls will love dressing up Dora with interchangeable skirts, while she waters her garden.

Features:

  • Comes with Gazebo, patio table, blooming sunflower, patio umbrella, planting pot with watering can, blue bird and pine tree.
  • Also comes with a buildable Dora and two interchangeable skirts.
  • Encourages imaginative play and develops motor skills

My girls loved this playset. We are Trying to make our own garden, but we have to get the dirt and soil settled before we can plant anything.  Playing with this playset has made my daughters even more excited about starting a garden.  The set does come apart very easily when moved, that was a little discouraging when they played. we had to fix it all the time.

I have one playset to giveaway

US ONLY

To enter tell me who you would give this to?

Extra entries:

Subscribe to my feed-8 entries

Grab my button-6 entries

Blog about this-5 entries

Sign Up for Mega Bloks Family-5 entries

Follow me on twitter-4 entries

Leave a comment on any non-giveaway post-3 entries

Tweet about this giveaway-2 entries

Contest Closes 5/30/11

Buy It:

You can get the Dora Mega Bloks Playset from Kmart for $14.99

Rating:9

Disclosure: No compensation was received for this post, a product was received from Mega Bloks through Team Mom

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