Tiffys Terrible Top Hat Ebook By Lady Jenniviere Review + Giveaway 3/16 WW

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Twelve year old Tiffany Rinks is a beauty queen, talented, smart and the school bully. She spends her days terrorizing the other kids. But it looks like the tables have been turned. Now she is the victim of a cruel joke.
Can she unravel the cause of her torment? Or will her bullying and lies cause the loss of her most prized possession?
Some lessons are only learned the hard way. For Tiffy, it looks like this might be a very hard lesson. 

Tiffy's Terrible Top Hat is the first book in the Lady Jenniviere's Quill series of preteen books.  Each book has an underlying moral.  This book centers around anti bullying.  

MY REVIEW:

I got interested in this book because of a recent story I heard from a mom from my daughter's class. Let me tell you a bit of the story.

I recently accompanied my 6 year old daughter to a play date with her "BFF" at Chuck E Cheese and while we're waiting for them to use all their tokens, I got the chance to talk to her BFF's mom. She asked me if my daughter might've told me about a girl in their class who is a bit of a bully. To be clear, my daughter and her BFF is in 1st grade. Since my 6 year old daughter always have a positive outlook, I told her no I haven't heard of it. Her BFF's mom told me that her daughter told her stories everyday about this girl who kept friending and un-friending her daughter everyday. One day the girl is nice to her daughter and the next day, she'll pretend she doesn't even exist. I think it's a form of mild bullying so I got worried and asked my daughter about this girl in their class. She knows the girl and tells me that she does get in trouble a lot in class.

I never imagined bullies and bullying starts at such a young age. Tiffy's Top Hat is such a nice eye opener to younger kids. Although it's geared towards kids age 8 to 12, I love how my daughter understood this when I read it to her. I like how it teaches honesty and kindness. The book has a mix of humor, mild horror and full of lessons.

This is a great book for kids 8 to 12 as well as a nice book to read to younger children. The words and the story is easy to understand so my 6 year old daughter didn't have any problems understanding the story and the lesson of this book.

You can visit Lady Jenniviere's website HERE.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

DISCLAIMER: 1 Winner will receive a code to download an e-book copy of Tiffy's Terrible Top Hat. Giveaway will start February 26, 2015 at 12:00 AM PST and will end March 16, 2015 at 12:00 AM PST. This will be open World Wide. 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 have received a product/s mentioned above to in exchange for an honest 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. 

Had A Blast With Our #DisneySide Preschool Disney Princess @Home Celebration!

Earlier last month, I excitedly opened an email from Disney Parks & MomSelect saying I was chosen to host a #DisneySide @Home Celebration with a Preschool Disney Princess Party theme. This is my first year of hosting a #DisneySide @HomeCelebration party so I was super excited and had lots of ideas on how I'll make our party cute and princess-y. Visit my post HERE to see our reactions when I received the huge #DisneySide box.

I had lots of ideas, even to the extent of a grand party, but, since we're on a budget, I decided on keeping our party simple and cute.

Last week, we had our #DisneySide Preschool Disney Princess Party and we had a blast with planning our simple party using the pretty and cute princess-y stuff included in our #DisneySide box.

My 6 year old daughter drew hearts and helped with the party decorations. I helped her stick her handmade heart drawings on the wall of course.

   

 The obligatory, pre-party picture is a must. :)

I used reusable silicon muffin liners for our cupcakes and the colors of the liners match very well with the Sofia the First cupcake stand included in our box full of goodies.

I placed treats in the Sofia the First treat boxes and placed a wand on each mini Sofia the First treat boxes.

I decorated our table with the pop-up Sofia the First table decoration and Cinderella's coach horse

I bought some Disney-themed bottled juice drinks to go with our Disney Princess motif.

For the guests, I filled the Doc McStuffins bag with the goodies I got from the #DisneySide box so they can take it home with them. Inside the Doc McStuffins goodie bag are:
- HP CMYK (Create Memories You Keep Packs which includes photo paper and envelopes
- Disney Parks Disney Vacation Planning DVD
- Cinderella button pin
- Princesa nail file
- Sofia the First crayons (bought it to make the goodie bag more personalized)

I used the small decorative boards included in the pop-up Sofia the First table decoration as cupcake toppers.

Before we started the games, we ate princess style first.

Then came the games which are very easy to set-up but very fun to play. We played the "Pin The Smile On Mickey" game. The materials were already provided and all I had to do was cut out the Mickey smiles and hang Mickey on our door.

We decided to skip on the blind fold and had a "no-peeking" rule. I think hubby won this round, no? LOL.

We also played the "Which Disney Side Character Are You?" Fortune Teller game and I remembered my friends and I played a similar game when I was in elementary school.

They also had fun playing with the "Disney Attraction Matching Game".

The party ended with making a personalized barrette made with the My Ribbon Barrette Maker for the guests.

I was super tired after the party but it was all worth it. It was fun and exciting to plan the party and much more fun doing the games and seeing all the cure decorations. It was very simple to arrange a cute little setting because all the supplies and decorations supplied matched.

Sadly and unfortunately, my PCs hard disk crashed and I wasn't able to recover some of pictures during the party. There were more photos but a lot of the photos I recovered (pre-party and post-party) were already corrupted and I can't open them anymore. So, I had to make do with the photos which were recovered.

The party was a success and family and friends were amazed with how cute the party is. Thanks so much to Mom Select, Disney Parks for choosing me to host a 2015 #DisneySide Preschool Disney Princess Party and thanks to the sponsors who made the #DisneySide box amazing.

"I received free products in order to host a Disney Side @Home Celebration. The opinions expressed here are my own. No other form of compensation was received."

Imaginative University Activity Kit Review

I like activity kits because I like how convenient they are and I like how my daughters discover and learn while having fun. They're 3 and 6 years old and they love asking the question why, how and what and love experimenting on simple things like panting seeds and a lot more.

This is the first time I received an activity box from Imaginative University and I was surprised when I received the big and heavy box filled with not one but 2 different months' worth of activities. Of course my daughters couldn't wait to dig through the contents and start the activities. :)

Before I start talking about my experience, let me tell you a little something more about Imaginative University which came from their company site.

Imaginative University is a subscription service that mails out activity kits to kids ages 4 to 10. It started in the Spring of 2014 with 2 goals:

1. Provide busy parents with a product that makes quality time with their kiddos a little more attainable.
2. Provide a means of employment for residents in our very rural town of Arkansas.

Pictured above is the January "Snow" kit. All the materials I needed for the activities were already included in the box except the red container, spoon and cup.

Since we live in SoCal and we didn't get the chance to visit the nearest mountain here for the snow, my daughters were very excited when they learned that we're going to make a snow man. My daughters' voices singing to "Do You Wanna Build A Snowman?" filled the air as I ready the materials needed to build the snowman.

The materials were very easy to gather because they were color coordinated. I don't have to guess or find the materials needed because at the upper left corner of the instructions, there's just a specific color I needed to find to gather the materials. The materials inside the box have colored stickers to make it easier to find them.

The first activity we did was the "Do You Want To Build A Snowman?" Activity and the materials needed and included in the box were:
- Book - "Snowy Day"
- Baking Soda
- Shaving Cream
- Snowman-making kit
- Powdered drink mix

As I've said above, I provided the red plastic container, cup, water and spoon. It was nice because I have all these things at home already.

We read the book entitled "Snowy Day" first before we did the activity.

The instructions were very simple to follow and my daughters were very happy when we formed their snowman. It was a bit messy so I made sure to put a box and a lot of papers below our activity space.

The eyes, cap, stick and nose was also provided and it looked like real snow, no? :)

My daughters played with the snow for a long time and didn't want it to "melt" (using the powdered drink included). This was a super fun activity and I love how my daughters had fun,

Next stop is the Cut a Snowflake activity. The materials needed for this activity are:

- filter paper
- scissors

Both materials are already included in the box so all we did was fold the filter paper and then cut holes on it. When my 6 year old daughter opened it, she was so happy to have made her very own snowflake. :)

Other activities included in the January "Snow" kit are:
- Symmetry
- Insta-Snow
- Crystals

The second kit included in the box was entitled CreARTivity, which includes 5 activities. We haven't done the activities yet so I'll update my post once we do it and post more pictures. In the meantime, here is the list of activities included in the CreARTivity:

- Beautiful OOPS!
- Colored "Sand/Salt" Art
- Kandisky Art
- ?Paint Brush?
- Shaving Cream Painting

My daughters are excited to do the Colored Sand/Salt art and the Kandisky Art. :)

The ImaginativeU (U is short for University) aren't as fancy as other kits I've received but the activities are very fun to do and I think they're at par with fancier boxes when it comes to my daughters learning and having fun. The activities are easy to do and my 3 and 6 year old daughter had fun doing them. :)

You can visit the Imaginative University on Facebook, Pinterest and their Website.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a sample for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I tried personally and believe will be good for my readers. No other form of compensation was received. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

HARD DRIVE CRASHED AND ALL MY PC DATAS ARE GONE!

You might've noticed that I haven't posted anything since Satruday.. Well, here's what happened..

Last Saturday, as I turned on our desktop PC, something weird happened to the desktop PC I use for blogging. It just started with the HP logo turning on AND THEN.. it got stuck in the "loading" phase where the circle thingy were circling round and round. THEN.. the Blue Screen came with the random code 0xC0000blah blah blah. I'm like, WHAT.. THE.. ****?!?! And then the fear and realization came of the PC not being able to start up again..

I.. DON'T.. HAVE.. ANY BACK-UP!

I waited for hubby to come home to see if he CAN FIX THIS! And I desperately prayed that he could.. BUT.. it came down to he saying about how the hard drive has crashed (WHAT?!) and I was bartering pleading on how he can try to save all the photos and videos.. And it came to the point of the PC not working anymore not unless he reformatted it.. So...

The waves of despair and panic came to me..

All our family photos this past year are gone...

All my daughters' videos this past year are gone..

All our files are gone..

All the photos I'm supposed to post in my blog, which by the way I'm way behind since I'm clueless on how I can post my product reviews WITHOUT photos, are gone..

I know, it's my fault for not having any back-up.. And hubby sure pointed that out to me.. BUT, I didn't realize the hard drive would crash easily, not since our desktop PC is just less than a year old.

I'm now currently searching for ways to recover lost data from hard disk crashes and I REALLY hope I can recover all the photos and videos.. If not all, our family photos and videos would be really nice..

Since I have deadlines for my product reviews, this is a notice and an apology to some products I've tried which the photos/videos were affected..

For the future product review posts I'm going to post the next few days, or weeks, if there is no actual photo/video, then, I'm afraid the missing photos are part of the result of the hard drive crash.. I will try my VERY BEST to take photos again of products I can still reuse again. If not, I'll post a disclaimer or note.

I'm so very sorry.. It's my fault and this is a lesson that I will never forget..

ALWAYS HAVE A BACK-UP!

Veggie-Go's Chewy Fruit & Vegetable Snacks By Naked Edge Snacks Review + Giveaway 3/9 US

My daughters have recently become picky eaters, specially my 3 year old daughter. They like some vegetables like young corn, cauliflower and broccoli but that's about it. They eat fruits though, so I don't have problems with them eating different kinds of fruits.

I recently found out about Veggie-Go's and I was super excited to see if my daughters would like them. Veggie-Go's is an organic fruit and veggie strip snack from Naked Edge Snacks. There are 5 different flavors available and each strip of Veggie-Go's features the following:

- 1/2 serving of fruit and 1/2 serving of vegetables in every strip.
- Less than 1/3 the sugar of the leading fruit strip (no added sugar or fruit concentrates)
- Organic and Non-GMO
- Gluten-free, Vegan and Kosher
- Unique and DELICIOUS flavors!

Here are the 5 flavors of Veggie-Go's and a short description of each flavor from the company:

Carrot Ginger Veggie-Go’s will wake you up in a flash! These things are seriously gingery! We have had many customers take these when traveling to help with motion sickness because of the stomach settling properties of the ginger and the soluble fiber in the apples! Did we mention these puppies have 60% of your daily Vitamin A as well!
Ingredients: Organic Carrot Ginger Puree (Organic Apples, Organic Carrots, Organic Ginger).

Tropikale - Get your greens on with the newest flavor to the Veggie-Go’s lineup! Our TropiKale™ flavor is a blend of the tropical fruits of kiwi, guava and mango with nutrient-dense kale, pumpkin, and apple. While you’re enjoying the bright tropical flavors, your body will be getting a good dose of vitamin A and nearly half your daily serving of vitamin C!
Ingredients: Organic TropiKale™ Puree (Organic Apples, Organic Pumpkin, Organic Kale, Organic Kiwi, Organic Guava, Organic Mango).

Cinnamon Spiced Beet is our most subtly sweet flavor. Earthy beets, spicy cinnamon and nutty flax seeds make for an extravagantly earthy experience! Your taste buds will be begging for more; and thanks to the massive amounts of minerals in the beets, vitamin A in the sweet potatoes and omega-3′s in the flax seeds, so will your body!
Ingredients: Organic Cinnamon Spiced Beet Puree (Organic Apples, Organic Beets, Organic Sweet Potatoes, Organic Cinnamon, Organic Lemon Juice Concentrate), Organic Flax Seeds

Sweet Potato Pie Veggie-Go’s are buttery and rich.  You will feel as though you are noshing on some fancy toffee, but in reality your treat only has 18 calories and a whopping 50% of your daily Vitamin A!  As if sweet potatoes weren’t enough, we’ve thrown in spices that will take you straight to the thanksgiving table!

Ingredients: Organic Sweet Potato Pie Puree (Organic Apples, Organic Sweet Potatoes, Organic Spices, Citric Acid).

Mountain Berry Spinach Veggie-Go’s are a lunch-box favorite for kids and grown-ups alike!  You will love the sweet strawberries, fresh blueberries and tangy raspberries! Your body will love the green goodness of spinach, the massive amounts of Vitamin A from the sweet potatoes as well as the antioxidant power of the berries!  There is nothing that is not fantastic for you in these little guys!

Ingredients: Organic Mountain Berry Spinach Puree (Organic Apples, Organic Spinach, Organic Strawberries, Organic Raspberries, Organic Blueberries, Organic Sweet Potatoes)

I showed the Veggie-Go's to my daughters and they were excited to try it. They said it looked like gummy strips and I left it at that at first. :)

I let them choose which flavor they wanted to try. My 3 year old daughter liked the Sweet Potato Pie flavor. It was delicious and I liked it too.

My 6 year old daughter tried the Carrot Ginger and honestly, she didn't like it. It's sweet and a bit spicy and for me, I didn't like it either.

Me and my 6 year old daughter's favorite would have to be the Mountain Berry Spinach flavor. It tasted really good and we really liked the taste.

The only thing I noticed was that the strips were a bit hard to bite or tear off. I was expecting the strips to be similar to gummy strips but the chewiness was more similar to a beef jerky. Younger kids might have a harder time chewing this. I also realized that tearing it off with my hands makes it easier to chew than biting it off directly from the strip.

Overall, this is a nice, healthy snack and most of the flavors are delicious. I like how my daughters like these strips because each strip doesn't just provide a half serving of fruit but a half serving of vegetables as well. The good thing is, they taste like gummy! So, one happy mommy here. 

Follow Naked Edge Snacks on Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter.

Would you like to win a sample pack consisting of one flavor of each Veggie-Go's? Well, yay!! Just head on over to the rafflecopter form below to enter. Good Luck!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

DISCLAIMER: 1 Winner will receive a Sample Pack of Veggie-Go's (5 Veggie-Go strips containing 1 of each flavor). Giveaway will start February 21, 2015 at 12:00 AM PST and will end March 9, 2015 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 have received a product/s mentioned above to in exchange for an honest 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.

4 Winter Wonderful Kids DVD From NCircle Entertainment Review + Giveaway 3/9 US

It's still Winter but here in SoCal, it feels like Spring already. The weather has become a bit warmer with the warmest temperature ranging from the high 70s to the low 80s everyday. Even though the temperature has become a bit warmer, my daughters still prefer to stay at home to play indoors or watch TV.

NCircle Entertainment offers a lot of fun DVD titles for kids and recently, they sent me 4 Winter-Wonderful Kids DVD. My daughters, specially my 3 year old, was super excited to watch them. Since my 3 year old daughter doesn't go to school yet, I let her watch educational shows at home and the DVDs sent to me were her favorite characters.

Continue over to my review below for your chance to win this great DVD prize pack containing all 4 titles below (valued at $40!).

Once she opened the package, she saw the DVDs and she was super excited because she knew the 3 shows already. We also got free stickers and she was super excited for that as well.

She opened Pocoyo first since it's one of her favorite shows. She watches Pocoyo ALL THE TIME. :)

Below, you'll see the DVD Summary in purple, italicized font and my review in black, normal font.

Pocoyo: Fiesta

Sing and dance with Pocoyo and friends in Fiesta!  Enjoy this never before seen feature showcasing thirteen songs from all your favorites – Pocoyo, Pato, Elly and even the Martian Brothers!  These songs will have your little one dancing along the whole time!  It’s time for a Fiesta with Pocoyo!

Never before seen feature

Bonus karaoke videos

Pocoyo is such a cute little guy and his friends are super cute too. My 6 year old daughter loves Pocoyo too and I like how the Pocoyo: Fiesta made my daughters sing and dance around. The bonus karaoke videos are a hit for them too! :)

Octonauts: Pirate Adventures

Dive into adventure with your favorite underwater explorers, the Octonauts! On this pirate-y DVD, Kwazii swashbuckles with swordfish, goes on a treasure hunt with a pirate parrotfish, and in a special double-length adventure, journeys down the Amazon to find his long-lost grandfather! 

The Octonauts is one of the shows I love because it teaches my daughters about marine life. The characters are cute and I like the creature report at the end of the show because it summarizes an episode to a chant-like or rhyme-like song. This has been my 6 year old daughters' favorite show when she was younger and I love how my 3 year old daughter likes this show too.

Wiggly Pig: Playtime!

Wibbly Pig is an animated preschool comedy series that takes the daily routine of a young child and finds humor and fun in every part of it.  From day to day activities like getting into bed, wrapping a present or climbing a tree, to fantasty play like meeting a giant or going to the moon, Wibbly turns the simplest tasks into a comedy routine! Wibbly loves to share adventures with his very best friend - you!

Bonus sing-along songs

This is actually the first time I've heard about Wibbly Pig and it's a hit for my 3 year old daughter. This is more for younger kids but my 6 year old daughter likes it too. The simple humor made my 3 year old daughter laugh a lot and I like how it's educational as well.

The Wiggles: Wiggles House

Who's in The Wiggles' House? All your favorite friends, Emma, Lachy, Simon and Anthony, and twenty-five new songs! Join the fun of 'The Laughing Doctor,' taste the delights of 'Pappadum,' 'Do the Hawk' with Lee Hawkins, 'Have a Good Day (Kia Pai to Ra)' with New Zealand's Robert Rakete, and so much more. So open the door to a house full of fun as we raise the roof with Wiggle House!

Never before seen

Bonus Features:

Photo Gallery

"Michaud" Music Video

Ready, Steady, TV Series Episode - "Spring Has Come"

I like the Wiggles because they're so energetic and the songs they sing are very catchy. This DVD made my daughters dance and sing around and I like how age-appropriate this show is for young kids.

My daughters loved these DVDs and I love how they were entertained and at the same time they learned something from these titles.

Visit NCircle Entertainment's Social Media Sites:
WEBSITE
FACEBOOK
TWITTER

Would you like to win this Winter Wonderful Kids DVD Bundle from NCircle Entertainment pictured above? Just head on over to the rafflecopter below to enter! :) Good Luck and Happy Holidays! :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway 

DISCLAIMER: 1 Winner will receive a Winter Wonderful DVD Bundle from NCircle Entertainment (Please see 4 DVDs above). Giveaway would start February 21, 2015 at 12:00 AM PST and will end March 9, 2015 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 have received a product/s mentioned above to in exchange for an honest 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.

Magnetic Phone Mount From Infernal Innovations Review

I've tried several phone mounts before and the thing is, it's either the phone mount base doesn't stick to our dashboard or the phone mount doesn't hold my phone very well. When I received the Magnetic Phone Mount from Infernal Innovations, I was quite excited to try it because this is the first time I've heard about a magnetic phone mount.

The Magnetic Phone Mount from Infernal Innovations arrived in a black box. It includes the following:
- magnetic phone mount
- metal plate
- adhesive for metal plate
- adhesive disk

TheInfernal Innovations magnetic phone mount has a black color and I didn't need the adhesive disk for it to attach to my dashboard. I was surprised and amazed that this attached quickly and effectively on my dashboard because I've tried other cell phone mounts in which the suction didn't work with my dashboard.

My Moto G's casing comes in 2 parts. A purple rubberized sleeve and a black thick plastic to absorb shock. I bought this kind of casing to protect it from drops because my daughters often play with the apps on my phone or watch youtube on my phone.

I first tried the to put the metal plate under the black plastic casing to see if the magnet would effectively attract the metal plate underneath my casing. My phone did stick to the magnetic phone mount but it I think the black outer casing is a bit thick so it didn't effectively hold my phone for long. My phone slowly slipped from the magnetic phone mount so I proceeded to try test #2.

I removed the thick, black plastic casing and placed the metal plate underneath the purple rubber casing of my Moto G. The metal plate is thin so it didn't cause any bulge on my casing. I placed my phone back in my purple rubber casing and tried to put it on the magnetic phone mount.

I was quite surprised at hoe strong the magnetic reaction was. My phone was securely attached to the magnetic phone mount base so I have no worries of my phone slipping and/or falling from the mount.

The magnetic phone mount's head can rotate 360 degrees and can swivel up and down as well as side to side so I can position my phone well.

I like how easy it is to install the magnetic phone mount and how my phone can be visible when I'm driving. I used to just ignore incoming phone calls while I'm driving but with the Magnetic Phone Mount from Infernal Innovations, I can simply answer incoming calls because my phone is visible and easy to operate.

I also like how I didn't have to use the extra adhesives for the metal plate and the metal disk because the phone mount and the metal plate is enough for it to effectively work.

This is a nice product and I like how simple it is to install and it also has a 5-year warranty which I think is great.

You can purchase the Magnetic Phone Mount from Infernal Innovations HERE with free shipping if you are a Prime member.


Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a sample for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I tried personally and believe will be good for my readers. No other form of compensation was received. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."