Month: August 2014

August 7, 2014

Eyewitness Dinosaur @DKCanada #review

The iconic Eyewitness book series has been the most trusted non-fiction series in classrooms and in homes for 25 years! DK Canada has updated this popular series to paperback (a first in North America!) as well as adding new covers, improved layouts and a better ratio of text to photo. You can check out the full twelve updated Eyewitness Series books here on the DK Canada website.

My kids are huge dinosaur fans (as if you couldn’t tell from my other post here!). To be able to combine that love with learning is my number one goal as a parent. Eyewitness books are perfect for this! With clear and bold heading they highlight for our son what the page will be about. In Eyewitness Dinosaurs the images on each page are striking and in full colour making you feel as if they are really bringing the dinosaurs to life. With over 150 images this book kept him (and me) engaged for hours!

I read the book before giving it my son (I have to be honest with you, I love learning new things and this book was incredible for this). I spent an hour going through each page reading all the tidbit information and looking at the beautiful photographs. I learned so much (who knew they can classify dinosaurs into two groups and many had feathers?!). If we stumbled on anything we were not sure of there was a fantastic glossary at the end of the book. Together we were able to follow their evolution straight to extinction.

Right now DK Canada is offering 30% off the Eyewitness series (making the books only $7.69 CDN!). Make sure to check them out here.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

August 6, 2014

Win $100 Gift Card to Shoppers Drug Mart! #onlyatshoppers

Summer is still in full swing – swimming, hiking, camping and trips to the beach! Even with the thought of back to school there is still plenty of time to enjoy the summer out in the sun.

Shoppers Drug Mart has you covered this summer with their #OnlyAtShoppers program. Shoppers Drug Mart has compiled a huge selection of articles, information as well as coupons (who doesn’t love a good coupon?!) on their Only At Shoppers site. On their site you can find information on how live healthier, feel energized, organization, beauty as well as many new products.

Shoppers Drug Mart wants you to enjoy your summer to the fullest and is offering one Working Mommy Journal reader a chance to win a $100 gift card! This giveaway is open to residents of Canada only, 18 years of age and older. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: I received compensation for hosting this giveaway. All opinions expressed are my own.

August 5, 2014

My Health and Fitness Goals: Update One

Thank you so much for all the wonderful support I received when I first posted about my goals. I was a little scared at first but I am glad I did it – my online community is so supportive and I appreciate all the fantastic comments, tweets and support!

Here is my update for you:

I have committed 100% to the 21 day fix work out for the last two weeks (I even did it while camping at the trailer!). Today I completed the lower body work out – the one workout that I quit at the fifteen minute mark when I first started the program because I was in too much pain – I did the whole thirty minutes! I cried out a couple of times but I made it through!
I am still working on portion control but have increased my vegetable intake which I am very proud of since I was never a big vegetable eater.
I am also including USANA’s protein meal replacement shake with added fibre (I really enjoy the taste and the amount of protein and fibre is high which is always important – it is also gluten free).
No pop, juice or sugar in my coffee!! Funny thing is I don’t even crave sugar as much as I did before.

Now here is the part that I am even more proud of:

I have lost two inches around my waist and am down ten pounds!

This has been one of my greatest accomplishments – I have had a heck of a time taking the weight back off since giving birth to my second child so this was a proud moment for me. Caring the extra weight has put extra stress on my overall health, my bladder and my self esteem.

I am now on my doubles week meaning I will be doing two of her fixes each day plus a daily ab routine (might as well keep those results going right??!). I can’t wait to update you next week with how I do.

August 5, 2014

We Have Flowers! #WW w/linky

When we first purchased our home we moved in at the end of the winter season and in our front yard there was this small size tree with white spiky branches poking out everywhere. Three months went by and nothing really happened to it and we were beginning to contemplate removing it. To our surprise weeks after we spoke about removing it gorgeous blooms starting popping out and it was the most beautiful tree I have ever seen!

This year it bloomed quite a bit later but now it is in full swing and I had to share it with you this week because I just love this tree!

Make sure you link up below so that I can visit you too! Have a fantastic day!

August 4, 2014

The Guardians of the Galaxy #subwayandamovie

Last week we were blessed to start off our vacation by attending an advance screening of the Guardians of the Galaxy by Subway Canada! Needless to say my boys were SUPER excited to see the movie (super just doesn’t even seem like a strong enough word to explain how excited they were!).

My boys are HUGE superhero fans – our youngest has our cable box full of all types of Marvel superhero shows and they are on a constant play (he even walks around with his Hulk Smash “punches” gloves on everywhere he goes – literally everywhere!). The Guardians of the Galaxy characters were featured on the Spiderman episode on t.v. the night before we were attending the movie so we were able to have a great insight into the characters and their personalities.

We LOVED the movie! I have not laughed, cried (yes there were a couple teary moments!) and been a bit scared in a long time. The plot was full of adventure (incredible stunts, costumes and sets) yet had so many tender moments reminding us that we are all the same inside. The music was incredible – so many of my old favourites that had me singing along right there in the theatre (and the whole car ride home to my families delight!).

My favourite character was Rocket – that little guy is so full of spunk! He had the best one liners and those guns he carried! My kids felt it was a tie between Rocket and Groot as the best characters (I can’t tell you why Groot was one of their favourite but if you have seen the movie you would know right at the end why they loved him – sorry no spoilers!!). There was some mild language throughout the movie that our youngest didn’t catch on to and the only swear word came right at the end.

The boys were able to pose with their favourite Subway Canada friend:

As well as being treated to some awesome Subway Canada bags and cookies!

We had a fantastic time watching Guardians of the Galaxy with Subway Canada! Have you seen the movie yet? Who is your favourite character?

Disclosure: We were invited to attend the advance screening. I was not obligated to post about my experience. All opinions expressed are my own.