I am happily married to my handsome prince, and love being a mama to the best kiddos! This is the place where we post great deals, kid projects, educational materials, toys, hand-made things, product reviews, parenting resources and ideas that we've found. Thanks for stopping by! <3 Ree
From the fullness of his grace, we have all recieved one blessing after another. John 1:16 NIV
Be watching in the next week for a review of WowWee toys! WowWee is the creator of several super fun and unique toys including Paper Jamz, Light Strike, and Lite Sprites!
In the mean time, head over to the WowWee Toy Shop and start your Christmas shopping! Use the coupon code: blogpromo10 to get 10% off of your purchases!
Need a great tool to help you get organized for the holidays? I have been using this free printable holiday control journal from Flylady for years now, and it really helps! There are places for Christmas lists, menus, recipes, receipts, decorating plans and ideas, traditions and so much more!
Pros: Nicely animated, lovable characters, cute artwork, colorful, captivating, episodes are short
Cons: Episodes are short, can't think of any others.
Summary: If you are looking for cute kid DVD's with valuable life lessons woven into the storyline for home or classroom use, Auto-B-Good series is worth checking out!
Our thoughts:
My kiddos love to watch movies! As a mama and a teacher, I love when movies are not only entertaining, but also teach valuable lessons. This was a really nicely animated movie series with lovable, colorful characters and great lessons to learn! My kids love the fact that the cars and trucks in Auto B Good are the main characters. This dvd kept the attention of all the kids in our house with ages ranging from 3-8 years old. Even my 3 year old was able to tell me about the movie afterwards and understood the lesson in the story. She said, "It's not okay to take away from people when it doesn't belong to you". :) My girls said they especially liked the "girl cars" and the boys liked the "boy cars". My 8 year old said that he especially like the episode, "Digging for Gold" because he liked the way all the cars worked together to help a friend.
Giveaway: Auto-B-Good is offering one Special Edition DVD: Auto-B-Good, Pirates of the Parkway to one lucky reader!
Disclosure: We received Auto-B-Good: Pirates of the Parkway for review. The opinions we have expressed are honest opinions and have not been influenced by the companies providing the free product. No other compensation was received.
Pros: In-depth, well-acted, well-paced dramas that wonderfully capture personalities and events Cons: Actor/actress shift confusion (if watched in a row), lack of knowledge of British politics may leave non-parliamentarians scratching their heads Bottom line: Great for anyone who likes drama or history. Will get you looking up deeper facts and details.
I was sent these dvds for my general interest in 20th century history. Some historical dramas just drag, while others skip through events like rocks across a shallow stream. My hopes were dim for these productions until I noticed two things:
1) They were produced by the BBC.
2) There are 284 minutes of screen time.
Since they came from the BBC, I could at least assume that they had to hold closely to facts, that the writers had good access to original sources, and that Hollywoodization would be somewhat minimized. All media has slant, but my hope was that I was in a low-spin zone, even for such a controversial figure as Mrs. Thatcher.
The nearly six hours of screen time put me on guard for a snoozer...needlessly.
I loved it.
The first movie, "The Long Walk to Finchley" is an account of Thatcher's efforts to land a seat in Parliament. Other key events, as well as her struggles against sexism, are woven in seamlessly.
The second, "The Falklands Play" focuses on the Falkland Islands War with Argentina. It depicts the debates swirling around the activities of the Argentinians and the controversies and second-guessing as events unfolded. The Americans are shown as unsophisticated buffaloes that are taken to task by the Prime Minister...but maybe that's what we are and that's what happened. My 8-year-old even liked it!
The third, "The Fall" recounts the political machinations that brought her down. What I found amazing was how quickly this happened...and from within her own party! This was the most confusing of the three movies, as I am not familiar with the inner workings of the British Parliament (and this was produced by the BBC for British consumption). However, it sent me to the internet to read up on it, which was quite welcome. It also had several flashbacks to key events in her life (more on that below).
These movies were well-acted, directed, and produced. Casting was superb and the screenplay was paced just about right. I rarely say that I want to watch a movie again, (especially ones that do not have explosions), but I will someday when the kids are learning 20th-century history.
I had one important trouble with the films: they used different actors and actresses for the various parts. Thus, the Thatcher of "The Fall" actually looked younger that the "Falklands" (and much younger than I remember the real Mrs. Thatcher at the time), I believe partly due to the fact that the flashbacks required the same actress. A little more age makeup may have helped. What really confused things were that different actors were used for the same parts, so MP "John" in "Falklands" looked completely different than MP "John" in "Fall", so it was hard to remember who was who, especially when such matters are critical to the story. Then again, maybe I shouldn't have watched them so close together!
All in all, though, well-done and interesting. What more could a history trilogy need?
Disclosure: We received The Rise and Fall of Margaret Thatcher on DVD for review. The opinions we have expressed are honest opinions and have not been influenced by the companies providing the free product. No other compensation was received.
Summary:If you are in the mood for a funny, musical comedy in the teen/adult audience... this movie may be worth checking out.
Comedy/Musical, Rated PG
Available on DVD: 9/6/2011 for $28.98
Full Review: It's amazing to me how many times the classic story of Cinderella has been written and played and still remains a favorite inspiration for so many movies. There are so many successful versions, all with a different twist or storyline! This movie has its good points and not so great points.
My favorite aspect of A Cinderella Story is that it is a musical... we absolutely love musicals over here! I thought the vocals were well done. The music is upbeat, fun and catchy. This one has a similar 'flavor' as High School Musical and is probably directed at a tweens and teens audience. I loved the actors and actresses that they chose for this movie. They are funny and keep you laughing all the way through!
Some aspects of the storyline in this movie were disappointing. Although this movie is hilarious at times, it takes the same road as so many films directed at kids and teens where all of the adult characters are either unintelligent, mean, or totally UN-cool. While you completely expect this of the wicked stepmother, the other adults in this movie (the music producer, the teachers, etc...) all seem to fit these descriptions as well. In contrast, the kids and teens are the only intelligent and logical of the bunch (with the understandable exception of the selfish and rude wicked stepsisters and their little brother). The little brother is so disrespectful of property and others (destroying furniture and paintings, has an extremely sassy mouth and attitude and creates embarrassing situations) that even though he is funny, cute and sort of redeems himself in the end, I would NOT show this movie to the younger kiddos in my house!
In conclusion, if you are in the mood for a funny, modern, musical /comedy geared especially towards teen girls, this movie may be worth checking out. I would not recommend it, however, for younger or more impressionable children.
Disclosure: We received A Cinderella Story on DVD for review from WB. The opinions we have expressed are honest opinions and have not been influenced by the companies providing the free product. No other compensation was received.
Ok..I'm not a big fan of pickles, but the rest of my family is. I decided to try this tried and true recipe from Mom this week and even the non-pickle eaters in the house love it! :) So if you have too many cucumbers in your garden..or too many pickle-eaters in your house, this is a great recipe! *note..you don't even need to can these...just refrigerate.
Easy Refrigerator Sweet pickles
7 cups unpeeled cucumbers sliced thin
Mix the following ingredients well:
1 cup onion diced
1 cup green and/or red peppers diced
2 Tbs salt
2 cups sugar
1 Tbs celery seed
1 cup cider vinegar
Mix everything and add to sliced cucumbers. Pack cucumbers into glass jars or sealed containers, fill with extra liquid and refrigerate for 24hrs...enjoy!
