Octonauts: Here Come the Octonauts DVD Review + Giveaway 1/7 US

My 5 year old daughter is so fascinated with sea creatures and life under the sea. She always asks me about sharks, dolphins, penguins, whales, starfishes, and a lot more! She found out about the Octonauts about a year ago and she instantly loved the characters and the show. When she saw the Octonauts: Here Come the Octonauts! DVD, she was super excited to watch it. My 2 1/2 year old daughter on the other hand, watched this show for the first time and instantly loved it.

The Octonauts: Here Come the Octonauts! DVD has 6 episodes and each episode brought laughter to my daughters. What I like about this show is that it taught my daughters about sea animals in a fun way. My 5 year old's favorite character is Peso the Penguin. Their favorite episode would be the Adelie Penguins. They laughed a lot when the little penguin jumped on Kwazii and shouted "Cannon Ball!"

My daughters have watched this DVD a lot of times already and they doesn't seem to get tired of watching the episodes. I am happy that they can learn about different sea creatures from the Octonauts and at the same time have fun watching it. The Creature Report is an added bonus as well because it summarizes the whole episode in a way my daughters can remember it. :)

Here is a brief summary of the DVD:

“Dive into adventures with your favorite underwater explorers, the Octonauts! Join brave Captain Barnacles, daredevil ex-pirate Kwazii, and medic Peso Penguin, along with the other Octonauts as they explore the world’s oceans, rescue the creatures who live there, and protect their habitats – above and below the waves!  On this exciting DVD, Captain Barnacles tangles with a Colossal Squid who has his hooks in the Octopod, Peso babysits a bunch of penguin chicks stuck in a blizzard, Kwazii has a shocking encounter with an Electric Torpedo Ray, and much more!”  Available at retailers near you.

- SRP: $12.99

You can connect with NCircle Entertainment on their facebook page here

You can also visit the Octonauts online. The website have fun and educational online games.

Do you want to own a copy of your own Octonauts Here Comes the Octonauts! DVD?! Well you're in luck today because NCircle is giving away a copy for my readers! Just enter on the Rafflecopter below. :)


  a Rafflecopter giveaway

DISCLAIMER: 1 Winner will receive (1) Octonauts: Here Come the Octonauts DVD. My giveaway would start December 31, 2013 at 12:00 AM PST and will end January 7, 2014 at 12:00 AM PST. This will be open to US residents only. The prize cannot be shipped to a P.O. box address. Winners will be notified by email and will have 24 hours to respond before a new winner is selected. I am not responsible for prize fulfillment. My role is to give the sponsor the information of the winner and they will directly ship the prize to the winner.  I am a member of NCircle's NSider and have received an Octonauts: Here Come the Octonauts  DVD to watch and review. All opinions are honest and my own and are not influenced in any way. No other form of compensation was received.  I do not share or sell information and all information shared with me will solely be used for prize shipment. I am disclosing this in accordance with FTC 16 CFR Part 255.  

Bonus daily words for my giveaways

Hello! If you've found out about my giveaway, then you've come to the right place to get extra entries for my bonus daily words! :) Just copy the word/s for the day and paste it on the rafflecopter form. :)


MONDAY: Good Luck!
TUESDAY: Hooray!
WEDNESDAY:  Good Morning!
THURSDAY: Good Afternoon!
FRIDAY: Thank God It's Friday!
SATURDAY: Good Night!
SUNDAY: Whew!

My 33 month old daughter finally told me she wanted to go potty!

2 weeks ago, my 33 month old daughter finally told me she wanted to go potty! I panicked and ran and brought her to the bathroom and helped her sit on the toilet (with her Dora potty seat) and then finally! She made "weewee" (our term for peeing :))

Just a flashback.. A few months ago, I was trying to potty-train her and I would make her sit on the toilet for about 5 minutes but wouldn't go "weewee". When I put on her diapers, she would immediately go "weewee". I didn't push her to learn how to make "weewee" on the toilet and decided to wait for a couple of months before I try again.

2 weeks ago, I was surprised because she ran to me and told me in a tiny voice "I'm making 'weewee'!". So imagine me getting her, running to the bathroom and then fumbled to get her to the potty fast! LOL. And then she looked at me and smiled and finally she did it! :) She even volunteered to flush the toilet by herself! :)

I was so happy and contented that she wanted to go potty on the toilet on her own. She doesn't want to go #2 yet and I won't force her. I'm just happy she made progress on wanting to go "weewee" on the potty. That means, less diapers!! :)

How did you potty train your child/ren and at what age did they learn to use the potty?

Free Blogger Opportunity for Keurig Vue V700 Brewing System Jan 31 - Feb 21 2014 - Sign-Up Now!

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Kroger Skillet Meals Review #GotItFree

 

As a stay-at-home mom, there are times when I need to prepare dinner in a flash. Many people might ask why I need to prepare dinner in a flash when I'm a stay-at-home mom and I have a lot of time on my hands for being one. Okay, I'll answer the question simply. Being a stay-at-home mom, I have to cook, do the dishes, do the laundry, take care of my 2 girls, clean the house, bring my daughter to and from school, help with her homeworks and projects, and A LOT MORE. A lot of people I meet say I'm so lucky to be a stay-at-home mom because I have lots of time for myself but sadly, this isn't true. I am on duty 24 hours a day and sometimes, I just need a break and finish what I'm supposed to do so I can have some "me" time.

I don't usually buy frozen, ready-to-cook meals because I liked cooking from scratch. So when I was given the opportunity to try the Kroger skillet meals, I was a little skeptical and hesitant but I tried it as well.

I went to Ralph's and saw that there are about 6 varieties of the skillet meals available but I picked the Tuscan-Style Penne to try. I also got the House Salad Bacon Kroger Fresh Selections Salad Kit because there were no other varieties available. The garlic bread came in last and I found it on their frozen section.

The package of the Tuscan-Style Penne Kroger Skillet Meal says it's for 2 servings only. So for a family of 4, 1 package isn't enough for us. It also says that it would be ready in just 10 minutes.

Here is the House Salad Bacon Kroger Fresh Selections Salad Kit. It looks delicious right? :)

Here is the whole package of the Tuscan-Style Penne Kroger Skillet Meals. Looks yummy too right?? :)

And here is the garlic bread. :) 

Here is a picture of me and my daughters. My daughters can't wait to try the Tuscan-Style Penne. :)

Oh yeah can't wait to try it too. :)

My daughters skipped on the vegetable salad and just wanted to try the Tuscan-Style Penne and the Garlic bread. She loved both of them by the way. :)

So my thoughts on the Tuscan-Style Penne Kroger Skillet Meal, their Fresh Selections Salad Kit and the Kroger Bread? They were all delicious. :) I really thought the pasta would be a bit soggy because it had been frozen but it tasted fresh and delicious. The vegetable on the salad were crisp and fresh too. The dressing was very delicious and the toppings complemented the dressing well. The garlic bread was very yummy. Even though it was frozen, it felt soft after we placed it in the oven. 

So for me, this is a great way to make dinner in a flash. In just 10 minutes, I've prepared everything without compromising the taste and quality of our dinner. :)

I would love to try the other Kroger Skillet Meals as well and I just hope they offer the Kroger Skillet Meals in a bigger package. :)

If you would like to be a member of BzzAgent and try cool products for free, you can ask me for my information or you can visit their website and join here.

DISCLAIMER:  I am a member of BzzAgent and have received a complimentary free product coupon to claim a Kroger Skillet Meal, Kroger Fresh Selections Salad Kit and a Kroger Garlic Bread. I was not required to do a review of the product but because I liked the products, I decided to make a blog post of it. All opinions are honest and my own and are not influenced in any way. No other form of compensation was received. I am disclosing this in accordance with FTC 16 CFR Part 255.

CAREFREE Acti-fresh Liners Review

Since I had my first "period",  I usually have it for 5 to 7 days and sometimes longer. I would usually wear the long overnight pads with wings for the first 2 to 3 days because my "period" is very heavy. I usually change 3 to 4 times a day and my pads would really be soaked. Around the 5th day of my period (it would be much lighter), I would get rashes due to the wings of the pads. I can't use pads without wings because based on my experience, they would not stay in place and it can get messy. That's when I discovered Carefree Acti-Fresh Liners.

I was very happy to have found out about the Carefree Acti-fresh liners because they're so thin and they stay in place! I don't have to worry about the remaining "lighter" days of my period because I can skip the pads with wings and use the CareFree Acti-fresh liners. IT saves me from the allergies and rashes I get every month because of teh extended use of the pads with wings. It doesn't move around like the liners I used before and it doesn't crinkle-up in the middle too (you'll know what I'm talking about if you've experienced it too). Plus, I can barely feel it's there. :)

Carefree Acti-fresh liners are available at Walmart, Target, CVS, etc. You can check if they're available near you here. Right now, they have a $0.50 off coupon you can print to save money.

Do you have questions about Carefree Acti-fresh liners? Read their FAQ's here. You can also learn more about the Carefree Acti-fresh liners here.

If you're interested in becoming a Smiley360 member, you can leave me a message or click here to join.

DISCLAIMER:  I am a member of Smiley360 and have received a complimentary free Carefree Acti-fresh liners to try and review. All opinions are honest and my own and are not influenced in any way. No other form of compensation was received. I am disclosing this in accordance with FTC 16 CFR Part 255.

Montagne Jeunesse Clay Infused Dead Sea Mud Spas Review #MJClaySpas

I am a fan of mud masks and clay masks because my face feels refreshed after I use one. When I received the Montagne Jeunesse Clay Infused Dead Sea Mud Spa, I was really excited to try it.

I read the instructions first and it was fairly easy to follow. I was expecting to see a paste-like mud mask but instead I saw this inside.

When I first saw it inside the pouch, I was like "Oh my gosh what is this?!" I thought the mud mask has dried up and I am not joking! LOL. I had to double check if what I'm seeing was real. I pulled it out and unfolded it and realized it was a clay mask with cloth! It also has holes for the eyes, the nose and the mouth :D

In my excitement, I forgot to take a "before" picture. :) I don't know why but when I saw myself with the mask, I thought of Jason from the Friday the 13th movie. LOL. :) Anyway, I then headed for the couch to watch a Korean drama I am watching to relax because the mask needed to stay on my face for 10 - 15 minutes (according to the instructions). My face felt cool with the mask on and the scent of the mask was very relaxing. I loved the smell of the mask and the cloth was very soft too.

After 15 minutes, I removed the mask and the instructions said to massage my face.

I massaged my face for about 3 minutes and then rinsed it.

I noticed that my face felt super refreshed after using the Montagne Jeunesse Dead Sea Mud Spa Mask. I love it and it's now a personal favorite of mine. I highly recommend their Dead Sea Mud Spa Mask because of my positive experience and I would definitely buy more.

You can connect with Montagne Jeunesse through their facebook page, twitter page or their pinterest page. You can also visit their website to see more information. :)

DISCLAIMER:  I am a member of Influenster and have received a complimentary free Montagne Jeunesse Dead Sea Mud Spa Mask to try and review. All opinions are honest and my own and are not influenced in any way. No other form of compensation was received. I am disclosing this in accordance with FTC 16 CFR Part 255.

My Violet VoxBox from Influenster Review #VioletVoxBox

As a member of Influenster, I get Vox Boxes filled with free goodies and products which I can try and review. I received the Vioet Vox Box and was excited to see what's included in my VoxBox.

Here are the products included inside my VioletVoxBox. I was excited to try everything in it. :)

First thing I tried was the Goody Athletique Ouchless Headwrap. I can say this was very soft and stretchy. I'll post a separate review of this great headband and link it here soon. :) #GoodyAthletique

Next thing I tried was the Not Your Mother's Clean Freak Refreshing Dry Shampoo. I was amazed it worked and I definitely love the smell. You can see my full review of the Not Your Mother's Clean Freak Refreshing Dry Shampoo here. #NYMCleanFreak

The Sally Hansen Triple Shine nail polish was very nice and easy to apply. I love the broad applicator brush because it coated my nails perfectly. You can read about my full review here. #TripleShine

The SoyJoy Dark chocolate and cherry bar I received tasted a bit weird for me. It's kind of dry and tasted different. I liked it mainly because it was healthy but as I've said, it tasted a bit different. This is not for me but I'm sure other people might like it. :) #SoyJoy #VoxJoy

Out of all the products I received, I can say this Montagne Jeunesse Dead Sea Mud Spa masque would be my favorite of all. I loved it and definitely made my face feel refreshed after using it. You can read my complete review of the Montagne Jeunesse Dead Sea Mud Spa mask here. :) #MJClaySpas









You can also become a member of Influenster if you're not one yet. :) It's very easy to become a member and there are no fees to become one. You can try products and goodies for free. If you'd like to become a member of Influenster, I can send you an invite. Just email me or comment here so I can invite you too. :)

DISCLAIMER:  I am a member of Influenster and have received a complimentary free #VioletVoxBox to try and review. All opinions are honest and my own and are not influenced in any way. No other form of compensation was received. I am disclosing this in accordance with FTC 16 CFR Part 255.

Not Your Mother's Clean Freak Refreshing Dry Shampoo Review #NYMCleanFreak

I received a Not Your Mother's Clean Freak Refreshing Dry Shampoo and I was like SAY WHAT??! I don't need water to shampoo my hair?! Oh yes this is the first time I'll be trying a dry shampoo and I was a little bit skeptical about it because okay, let's be honest, how can you remove the oiliness of your hair without rinsing it with water?

Okay so here goes my "dry shampoo" adventure. :)

As you can see, this is my hair after 1 day of not shampooing (by 1 day I mean I shampooed -with water - the morning before and this is what it looks like the afternoon after). Oh yes it becomes oily that fast! And that is just the outside part of my hair. Here is the inner part of my hair.

See that?! The inner part is twice as oily as the outside part. And now my trial of the Not Your Mother's Clean Freak Refreshing Dry Shampoo. I had to read the instructions first since this is the first time I'll be using a dry shampoo. The instructions were to spray generously on the roots and throughout the hair and then brush it through the hair to diffuse the powder. The powder will then absorb any excess oils on your hair.

I shook the can and sprayed it onto my roots. See the white stuff on my hair? That's the Not Your Mother's Clean Freak Refreshing Dry Shampoo. First thing I noticed was the smell. It was really refreshing and fresh. I liked the smell instantly. I can't seem to spray it directly on my roots since I can't see it so that's the best I can do.

I brushed my hair since the powder needed to diffuse throughout my hair.

I added some more since my hair still looks oily. :)

And this is what it looked like after several brushes.

I then focused on the inner part of my hair.

Oops! I sprayed on too much dry shampoo!

It looked better after brushing my hair.

And, this is the final result after using the Not your Mother's Clean Freak Refreshing Dry Shampoo. I was like "OH YES IT WORKED!" The dry shampoo absorbed some of the oiliness of my hair and left my hair smelling fresh too. I liked it because it was easy to use. My only concern was with my hair type and hair length, I almost used up the entire bottle of the dry shampoo (1.6 oz.). Other than that, I loved the Not Your Mother's Clean Freak Refreshing Dry Shampoo and would use it if I needed a quick-fix for my super oily hair. :)

DISCLAIMER:  I am a member of Influenster and have received a complimentary Not Your Mother's Clean Freak Refreshing Dry Shampoo to try and review. All opinions are honest and my own and are not influenced in any way. No other form of compensation was received. I am disclosing this in accordance with FTC 16 CFR Part 255.

Say Say Girls Online Game Review

I have always loved playing online games even when I was younger because for me, it is fun and is one of the things I do to relieve stress and pressure from school. I remember when I satrted to play Achaea, an online RPG text game when I was in highschool. My friends were playing it and told me to try it too. I instantly liked the game and had my character level up to a very high level. Now, as a mom of 2 girls, I allow my girls to play games online only if it's appropriate for their ages (they're 2 and 5) and of course if it's educational.

I was contacted by Librae Ltd. to try their online game, Say Say Girls for girls ages 7 to 14 years old. I checked out their site and saw that the graphics were nice and so are the colors. My 5 year old daughter saw me logging in and immediately asked if she can name the character, to which I agreed.

When we logged in, they sent me an email with a link which I should click first so they can confirm that I am allowing my daughter to create a character and play.

She named the character and even chose the clothes for her. I noticed that she chose a black hair for her character but I think there's a glitch in the system because her character retains the clothes she chose but the hair reverts back to the original hair the character had when we first logged in.

She had fun choosing the clothes and the shoes and she had fun decorating the apartment room as well.

This is the map of the Say Say Girls' world and at the moment, there are only 5 places where she can go and in 3 of those places, she can play games.

We first tried the dance studio and she had a quest there. We also tried the game here at the dance studio but it is a word search game. My daughter is just starting to read so she had a hard time with the word search and asked me for help.

She enjoyed playing the ski jump though because it is easy to play and only needs the space bar to play.

Regarding the quest, we finished the quest and got the "heartsies" but after a few minutes, when we clicked the dance studio again, it was making us repeat the same quest again.

Because this is a new site, I think they're still fixing and updating their website but I am sure that when they fix the glitches, this site would be great for girls ages 7 and up. My daughter is too young to read the words and instructions but she had fun decorating her own "apartment" and had fun playing the ski game. She also had fun dressing up her own character and mixing and matching clothes.

DISCLAIMER: I was asked by Librae Ltd. to do a review of the Say Say Girls online game. All opinions are honest and my own and are not influenced in any way. No form of compensation was received. I am disclosing this in accordance with FTC 16 CFR Part 255.