Category: review

December 13, 2013

Dora The Explorer Live! Search for the City of Lost Toys: An Interactive Production

LIGHTS! CAMERA! ACTION!

Dora the Explorer Live! Search for the City of Lost Toys landed at Hamilton Place this week and stole our hearts!

Our family was so excited to attend the live Dora show – especially our youngest son who is the world’s biggest Dora fan. He has us watching Dora re-runs over and over!

Hamilton Place was full of children of all ages excited and ready to see the loveable Dora and friends. There were little girls dressed up in orange pants, pink shirts and purple back packs. My son declared they were truly Dora-fied! Amongst those adorable Dora costumes was a diverse group of young boys, toddlers and adults excited to experience the magic that is Dora.

The entire production was an incredible experience. I kept wondering how they were going to make the animated Dora come to life! The casts and crew accomplished this in the most interactive and exciting way possible. The seventy minute live theatrical production included all aspects of the televesion show Dora – songs, actions, problem solving, language and all characters (including Back Pack and the Map!). There was also a short intermission that was a huge relief so we could get the kids to the bathroom and back, although our youngest was quite anxious to get the show back on the road!

The entire audience was singing, dancing and laughing along with the cast. I found myself clapping and singing right along with my boys (it is amazing how you can know every word to each song!). Dora had all of us involved in each part of the show clapping, dancing, stomping our feet, solving problems along the way as Dora and Boots search for the City of Lost Toys.

Each set change had us anticipating what new adventure awaited Dora and her friends. We were all anticipating the moment when that Sneaky Swiper would make his appearance. Our youngest was on constant Swiper watch and as soon as he saw that tail he would shout and throw up his hand “Swiper No Swiping!”.

Dora the Explorer Live! Search for the City of Lost Toys was an incredible experience for our family. It was honestly one of the most engaging and exciting family productions we have ever been to. I would definitely bring our family back again to see Dora and her friends.

Disclosure: I received tickets to the show to help facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

December 3, 2013

Oink: Teaching Financial Literacy and Independence #review #giveaway

Teaching our children financial literacy skills is incredibly important. It gives them the strength, knowledge and independence to help them grow as stronger young adults. But how do we teach our children these skills? Money can be such a sensitive topic for people and others may not feel comfortable discussing bills, savings, etc. The tricky part can be in how to get these conversations rolling.

Image from VirtualPiggy.com

Oink (previously Virtual Piggy) is an online piggy bank where children and teens can safely (and securely!) spend, save their allowances, create wishlists, donate and more. Most importantly, Oink opens up the door of communication so we can have these important financial chats with our children (that do not always happen when we give them their allowance in cash and they disappear quickly and I speak from experience there – never seen a nine year old run to his room so quickly before!).

Oink has set up quite a few safeguards for children when it comes to spending. A parent must first set up their own account linking it to their child’s account. Parents can then set a number of parameters depending on the age of their child, the amount of independence they feel is right, etc. Parent’s can set up funding goals, choose how much a child can spend in a single transaction, how they are alerted for these transactions and if approval needs to be given before these transactions can go through. Oink works with kid friendly retailers online and when your child goes to make a purchase they simply click on the “Virtual Piggy” at checkout. This video by Oink really helped walk me through the whole concept and understand our accounts better.

I love how Oink not only allows my son and I to have important financial conversations but also how it empowers him to make good financial decisions on his own. I was quite proud to hear him say that he did not want to spend all of his money on one toy because then he would have nothing left! He wanted to save a portion of his allowance and the other part he would save until there was something he really wanted. Oink gives him the tools to independently save his allowance, create a wishlist that we can go through together (you know all those “wants”) while still allowing me to monitor from a distance to make sure he is safe. It allowed me to feel confident in his choices and help us to speak more freely about money and budgeting for our wants and needs.

The best part of Oink? It is 100% free to use! Yes you heard that right! Both the child and parent account are completely free to use, save and spend online!

Oink is also a Parent Tested Parent Approved Winner. They have met the high standards of other parents just like you in order to earn that designation which is well deserved!

You can also check out their website which has a wealth of financial knowledge and tips. They have great tips on starting money conversations when paying bills or shopping along with helpful resources for families. You can also keep up to date with them on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram.

Oink is giving one reader a chance to win a $100 in gift card credit at shop.virtualpiggy.com!

This giveaway is open to residents of the US, 18 years of age and older. Enter via the Rafflecopter form below.

GOOD LUCK!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: I received no monetary compensation for this post. All opinions expressed are my own. The only compensation from this post is the giveaway for you my readers.

December 3, 2013

Delicious Guilt Free Goodness with CheeCha Puffs! #Review #Giveaway

Eating snacks between meals is important – it keeps our energy up, prevents us from over eating at meal times, allows us to remain feeling full and satisfied and has been shown over time to help with weight loss. What we eat at these snack times is very important. I find that too often it is so much easier to reach for the junk snack foods that are so readily available and full of calories, sugars and ingredients you can’t even read! Which defeats the whole purpose of healthy eating at snack times!

But what if there was a snack out there that was made with wholesome ingredients, low calories and tastes delicious?

CheeCha Puffs covers all those points and more! I was introduced to the brand when I started my gluten free diet two years ago. I wanted something healthy, gluten free, low in calories but would still satisfy those snack cravings I seem to always get in the early afternoon!

The gluten free CheeCha Puff line is made up of five flavours. Each flavour is not only gluten free but also nut free, cholesterol free, non GMO, trans fat free, MSG free and dairy free. Now that is a list!
The gluten free flavours are:

original

salt and vinegar (my personal fave!)

salt and pepper

luscious lime

fiesta salsa

The low calorie line (and by low calories I mean roughly 75 calories for two cups! Yup two cups! That is a lot of snacking) is compromised of seven flavours:

triple cheese (my boys fave flavour!)

Each wheel like piece of potato puffed CheeCha Puffs are lightly seasoned and popped to make that healthy and delicious treat. I find these make the perfect snacks for school lunches and I regularly bring them to soccer games and the team cheerleaders “aka the little brothers and sisters” love to snack on them throughout the games!

CheeCha Puffs are sold at many locations across Canada and the United States. I personally purchase my own at Sobeys and Walmart.

What I love the most about CheeCha Puffs is their story. They are a Canadian owned business that started in Elaine Cadrin’s Calgary kitchen. She took a traditional family snack that was deep fried and popped it to create what would become CheeCha Puffs. She started selling them at a local farmer market where they soon became a huge hit. Now alongside her daughter, Tracey, they manage the CheeCha factory in Calgary bringing families all across Canada healthy goodness!

CheeCha Puffs have generously sponsored a great giveaway for you! They would like to give one Canadian reader a case of CheeCha Puffs so you can taste for yourself how fantastic they truly are!

Enter the Rafflecopter form below. The giveaway is open to Canadians, 18 years of age and older.

GOOD LUCK!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: I received no monetary compensation for this post. All thoughts expressed are my own. The only compensation is the giveaway for you my readers!

November 21, 2013

Nutrience: Grain Free for Our Fur Baby #review

Toopy has been a part of our family for almost seven years now. She is our best friend, our guard dog and a special part of our family. We would do anything for her.

Her health problems started roughly two years ago. Our healthy dog took a turn for the worse and was covered in red sores that she would scratch until they bled. She was also losing her fur in large clumps all over the house. We were terrified.

Our first visit to the vet, they diagnosed her with allergies and gave her steroid injections, pills and sent us on our way. One month later, we were back in their office. Again, the diagnosis was allergies with the same treatment plan. We went through this cycle for the past two years until the vet finally said she does not think it is an environmental allergy but a food allergy. We tried every food possible for her – including the vet recommended kangaroo meat one (in the hopes that something foreign to her will prevent her from reacting). No such luck!

When I got the word from BzzAgent that Toopy was chosen to try out the new Nutrience dog food, I thought this might just be it! Nutrience comes in three forms: Natural, Grain Free and Original.

We decided on the Grain Free version for Toopy only because of her skin sensitivities and possible allergies. Their Grain Free version contains fresh meat, fish, healthy fats, fruits, vegetables and botanicals. The grains are replaced with lentils and sweet potatoes. Sounds delicious right?

Nutrience Natural is made up of fresh meats, fish, low calcimine carbohydrates, healthy fats, fruits, vegetables and botanicals. Their original formula is the basis for the other two and was developed to give our pet family members as much uncomplicated food that contains wholesome ingredients.

These ingredients all work together to help keep your pet healthy, happy and active.

Toopy seemed to love her food – hard to ask her this question but those bowls emptied pretty quick! She had no problems transferring over to this brand at all. The food size was perfect for her and she had no trouble chewing them. We actually noticed an improvement with her skin as well. She was scratching less, releasing less oils onto her skin, less dry skin and generally she was happier. Her happier self was much more playful and she is back on the road to being an active and happy dog again!

Disclosure: I received the above mentioned products for free as part of the BzzAgent program. The opinions expressed are my own.

November 19, 2013

Stones for Bread Review & KitchenAid Mixer #giveaway

Stones for Bread is a novel written by award winning author, Christa Parrish. Stones for Bread follows the story of a solitary, bread artisan Liesl McNamara. Her whole world is devoted to bread. The cultivation of yeast and the perfection of her craft is almost a religion to her. The art of making bread was passed down to her from both her Grandmother and Mother. Bread is her life and this makes life simple for her. This simplicity begins to change when her head baker brings in his troubled grandson, her waitress (and only friend) submits Liesl’s bakery to be on a flashy television show and her delivery man shows romantic interest in her. Her quiet existence which she has come to depend on becomes changed forever when her bakery is featured on the television show. She is forced to confront long hidden family secrets, her own insecurities and fears in order to move forward.

Stones for Bread was an emotional and honest read! Christa Parrish touched on real life topics that many of us can relate to. Liesl’s withdrawal and devotion to bread is something we can all relate to when we lose a loved one. We hang on to these little parts of our loved ones so we can remain connected to them, in this case Liesl’s connection was through bread. Bread is her heritage, her life and connection to those that she has loved and have passed on. It becomes difficult for her to let people in to this love, to let people love her and for her to trust. The same is so true for so many of us when we have dealt with pain and loss. It is so easy to become caught up in her pain that it is difficult to trust. Yet we all must make this journey to trust others again. To allow others back in to our lives. To love and let ourselves be loved again. Stones for Bread was an emotionally packed journey to self discovery. To find more reviews and information on Stones for Bread visit here.

Rating: 4.5/5

You can purchase a copy of the book here.

Christa Parrish is an award winning author of three novels. When she is not writing, she home school’s her three children. You can learn more about her here.

GIVEAWAY TIME!!

Christa Parrish is celebrating her fourth novel, Stones for Bread, with a KitchenAid Mixer giveaway.

#StonesforBread KitchenAid Mixer Contest #ChristaParrish http://bit.ly/1aBTNz9

Easy steps to enter:

1. Follow Christa Parrish and TNZ Fiction on Pinterest.

2. Then Pin the Stones for Bread book cover (below), the contest graphic (above), or both, and link to this post (using this URL: #StonesforBread KitchenAid Mixer Contest #ChristaParrish http://litfusegroup.com/campaigns/stones-for-bread-by-christa-parrish).

3. Then fill out THIS SHORT FORM to let us know. (There are also some additional ways to earn extra entries, as well as an option for non-Pinterest users. It’s true—people like that do exist!)

Questions? Email info @ litfusegroup dot com.

Winner will be announced on 12/9 on Christa’s Facebook Page.

Disclosure: I received a copy of the book for the purpose of a review. All opinions expressed are my own.