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Party Time with The Amazing Spider-Man! #SpiderManWMT #Cbias

Posted by Theresa Gould on November 3, 2012
in DVDs & CDs, Family Stuff, Movie Reviews, Movies, News Worthy, Reviews, Shopping

Ever since our first post about The Amazing Spider-Man our children have been eagerly anticipating hosting our party and watching The Amazing Spider-Man movie, which is due to be released on DVD on November 9th. It took us four different extended invitations before we found some guests available and interested in coming to a Spider-Man themed pizza party and each time our children asked, “Is so and so coming over?” so they were pretty excited when we got the yes.

We went party shopping at Walmart and bought fruit – we made carmel apples – veggies, Spider-Man themed party supplies and Marketside pizza. Walmart will be releasing Amazing Spider-Man themed Augmented Reality triggers that will be included on the pizza box & display pallet, triggering special Amazing Spider-Man experiences on the iPhone, iPad or Android in-store, especially for shoppers.

I found that playing hostess with people outside our household didn’t give me or my daughters the same freedom or time in snapping photos of everything and anything due to taking care of my guests. I tried though.

We ate first before going down to our basement to watch the movie.

The Amazing Spider-Man Movie

All the younger children waiting for the rest of the adults to watch the movie. Sorry about the dark photo.

The adults were upstairs talking and enjoying quiet conversation while the children were downstairs waiting. We interrupted them to get a group picture.

If you read my previous post, you know that we took advantage of the pre-order opportunity to get a digital download of Spider-man on DVD or Blu-Ray on Vudu.com. I also set up an UltraViolet™ (UV) account, which “is a new movie industry standard that allows you to securely store your digital movie collection in the cloud.” We really like online streaming technology.

The Amazing Spider-Man is rated PG-13, unfortunately for families with young children. I wish I had watched it in advance. I naively thought “Spider-Man…what could possibly be wrong with it” and neglected to read the rating, I should have known better. There were a couple of scenes I quickly had to cover up. A brief glimpse of one scene made our 10 year old son say, “That scene on the subway was unnecessary.” And guess what? He’s right.

The movie wasn’t bad, if you haven’t seen it yet, but a lot of the story line was changed if you are use to another version. Even the children noticed since they’ve watched the animated version. We tend to not like new changes.

After watching the movie we gave our younger guests The Amazing Spider-Man goodie bags and they left for home since it was getting late. We thoroughly enjoyed entertaining and look forward to the next time.

Friends talking

For additional information about The Amazing Spider-Man upcoming DVD release, check out Twitter (use hashtag #SpiderManWMT) or Facebook.

“I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment #CBias #SocialFabric” (Feel free to add any additional wording you would like such as “all opinions are my own”)

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Pre-Order The Amazing Spider-Man Gift Set #SpiderManWMT #Cbias

Posted by Theresa Gould on September 29, 2012
in DVDs & CDs, Movies, Uncategorized

After the success of last week’s Avenger party, my children are very excited about The Amazing Spider-Man coming out on DVD too. They’ve been asking me to watch Thor, The Avengers etc. with them. Now that I have Captain America under my belt they are eager to introduce me to the rest of the movies in the series. We may get to watch one of them this weekend depending upon if I get my posts done up for the week since I leave for Brandcation on Wednesday.

Pre-Order The Amazing Spider-Man

When the children heard we were going to go to Walmart to pick up the pre-order The Amazing Spider-Man DVD or Blu-ray they were pretty eager to go with me. One son said, “Really?” He was surprised but happy. My four year old son was very excited because I told him he could have a new spider-man mask since his little fabric one that came with his dollar store spider-man costume is all torn.

I took five children with me to the store. It’s funny because they gravitated towards the costumes they saw last week and of course discovered new things. Then there was this huge pumpkin decoration with crazy eyes that my youngest daughter calls, “Hypnotizing”. It cracks me up what children come out with.

Of course on our way back to the electronics department we got side tracked in the party supply aisle as the kiddos remembered we went down there last week too. We noticed a couple of new Avenger items which disappointed the children because they were not available when we shopped for our Avengers party, but there was lots of Spider-Man supplies to choose from.

Then we found the pre-order spider-man item and it was completely different than I thought it would look since I had in my mind the photo on Walmart’s website. I thought the exclusive movie gift set came with an actual mask, but it doesn’t…eeeeks…..there’s going to be a disappointed boy if I don’t fix that!

So off to the toy section to pick up a sturdy mask the boys can share but Nookie can use first. Hoping to surprise him in the morning with it!

And before I headed out for a seminar today I gave Nookie the spiderman mask….I think he looks pretty pleased, don’t you?

Vudu.com and Ultra Violet

With the pre-order of spiderman we received a free digital copy of the movie on Vudu. Once we got home I wanted to see what the whole pre-order process was like and figure out Vudu.com and Ultra Violet because I’ve never pre-bought anything like this before. Vudu.com is a site where you can stream, rent or buy DVDs – for multiple devices too. They even have a tab to convert DVDs to digital format, which I haven’t tried yet, and you can store them online. I definitely see advantages to this as we have had several DVDs get broken and had we been able to store them digitally right after we bought them we would still have them. Vudu charges for individual DVD rentals and conversions. It is not a monthly subscription service. You only pay for what you use or buy.

I am still trying to figure out what Ultra Violet is, but from what I can tell it is another site that allows consumers to stream movies and TV shows with multiple devices. Here’s what their FAQs page says:

UltraViolet is a free, online Collection that gives you greater flexibility with how and where you watch the movies and TV shows that you purchase. Once a movie or TV show has been added to your UltraViolet Collection, you will have options to stream it over the internet, download it for offline viewing, or play it back on a disc. Because UltraViolet offers so many viewing choices, you have greater freedom to choose where you want to watch – whether its on a mobile device, computer, television, game console, etc.

It was pretty simple to sign up for a Vudu account. I followed the prompts on the screen, some of the steps are shown in the photos below.

We are all set to watch the digital version of The Amazing Spider-Man and we should receive the Blu-ray + DVD gift set a few days before the movie hits store shelves. My children are already talking about a spiderman party!

To learn more about The Amazing Spider-Man or to stay up to date on news about the movie be sure to follow on the movie on Twitter and Facebook. If you do tweet, use the hashtag #SpiderManWMT to increase visibility and hopefully help the movie trend on Twitter.

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Our Awesome Avengers Party #MarvelAvengersWMT #CBias

Posted by Theresa Gould on September 23, 2012
in DVDs & CDs, Family Stuff, Fun Stuff, Kids Stuff, Movies, Uncategorized

Last Tuesday night our family was able to enjoy a very fun evening, except my husband who has been struggling with cold/flu like symptoms the last few weeks – found mold behind our washer. Anyhoo, the children and I all headed out to Walmart to shop for supplies for our Avengers party! Did you know The Avengers Blu-ray/DVD release is this week? Yes it is! I haven’t watched any of the new Marvel movies but my husband has watched a few of them with the children, including The Avengers. They get excited about all things Avengers and super heros. My goal was to enjoy an evening of fun with my family.

Shopping at Walmart

Before we went shopping, I downloaded The Avengers Augmented Reality App. There is a quiz, a place to join The Avengers, a game, a place to scan product. The kids love the game and music on it. I watched a video first to help me understand how it worked. The problem is we were only able to get it to work on the Marketside pizza boxes because there were barely any displays were up in promotion for the movie.

On the pizza boxes The app basically provided a 3D scene from The Avengers, my kids are pretty tech savvy and loved it.

Due to the lack of promotional signage available, we were unable to find any of the app’s trigger points so we could participate in earning points. We tried scanning the sign at the deli counter as well as the video display they had there for other Marvel movies but nothing happened. The sign at one of the entrance’s didn’t work, nor did any of the tags on the apparel we looked at.

I was hoping our Walmart had everything I had in mind to create an awesome Avengers party and you should see what I found!

We bought The Avengers party plates, cups, napkins, balloons, candy (not something I normally buy but this was a special occasion so we indulged), masks, a punching ball, prize ribbon and tattoos. We even purchased a couple of packages of super hero figures for the children to share and play with. These were part of the prizes I got for our game time. I was trying budget my money wisely because costumes were $9.99 and up, I couldn’t afford to get them each their own individual costumes, so we settled on them each having a mask which worked out great and it was so fun – I even wore one.

The children were so excited in the toy section, another section we usually avoid so we keep the gimmees at bay. There were lots of Avenger toys, figures and Legos to choose from….gave me a couple of ideas for Christmas. They were too expensive to get on a normal day out, that’s why we settled on the inexpensive action figures, plus more children could play with them than they could one big action figure/or toy that cost $15-$25 each.

Our Awesome Avengers Party

We purchased Marketside pizza for dinner. It’s very good. We were pleasantly surprised as it is very filling compared to other pizza we have tried. We enjoyed our meal together before heading down to our basement family/playroom for an evening of games showing super power strength and agility.

I divided us into teams and we played three games: whose team could keep a balloon in the air the longest, who could do the punching ball the longest and who could make the most words out of the word Avengers in two minutes. Then I handed out prizes to the winning team, the child who did the punching ball the longest and then each of the younger children received tattoos and super hero figures.

We ended our evening by watching half of Captain America since it was 9pm when we started it. We finished it the next day.

The Avengers Graphic Novel

Our children also enjoyed getting The Avengers Graphic Novel, though my daughters did report a couple of inappropriate/swear words, which was unexpected and disappointing for something geared towards children.

The Avengers Blu-Ray/DVD/Graphic Novel Combo Pack

The Avengers Blu-Ray/DVD/Graphic Novel Combo Pack was not in our Walmart store when we shopped last week but I can see how it will be a nice gift to super hero fans. It retails for $24.95 and will also be available on September 25.

To learn more about The Avengers visit Marvel.com Fans will want to follow Marvel on Twitter (use hashtag #MarvelAvengersWMT) or Facebook .

Overall our Avengers party was very memorable and the children told me how much fun they had that evening and again the next day. Guess it was a success!

“I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This content has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and Marvel. #MarvelAvengersWMT #CBias #SocialFabric. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”

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Family Movie Night and Snacks #Snacks4WimpyKid #CBias

Posted by Theresa Gould on July 31, 2012
in Family Stuff, Food and Treats, Fun Stuff, Movies, Uncategorized

Our family really enjoys watching movies. We enjoy a wide variety of movies from super heros to Ann of Green Gables. It has been a while since our whole family viewed a movie in the theater; probably a couple of years ago when we went to see the Tooth Fairy at the Wednesday Morning Movie Series – when they offer movies for $1! It’s a pretty cheap outing for our family. The guys in our family saw Courageous last year. However, we’ve seen no movies release in recent months. It would be kind of fun to see the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid, which is coming out in a few days. My older daughters and I have watched one of the others and laughed and laughed. I have sort of banned my boys from seeing the whole movie due to the rudeness etc. they seem to pick up on so easily – they come out with enough potty talk all on their own! They have seen clips of DOAWK though and loved it, of course.

Here’s what some of our family might look like in the DOAWK series:

Artwork compliments of our children

When we watch movies at home, our preferred movie snack is popcorn. We make it the old-fashioned way in a pot on the stove. However, when we go out I tend to make them eat something before we go out. Yes, to save money because snacks at the theater are pricey for ten people! I usually like them to eat healthy snacks, like fruit or something and Del Monte Fruit Cups are perfect for traveling or eating at home before going out. They are easy to offer as a healthy dessert after a meal too. There are two different kinds of fruit cups. One is in the produce section and the other is in the canned fruit aisle. We chose the one in the produce aisle as the ingredients seemed healthier and there was no added sugar. Apparently, these are different than the Fruit Cups as they are called Fruit Naturals, which I didn’t know until now. Oops. We have tried the Fruit Cups, just in May as a matter of fact, I just prefer snacks without added sugar or sugar substitutes, like artificial flavors, which I did not see on Walmart’s shelves in the Fruit Cups section, unless I missed some labels as I had already put the Fruit Naturals in my cart.

Robert’s aunt just sent us some money telling us that she’d like to see us use it for something fun and a Del Monte DOAWK family night would be perfect. That or go-carting and mini golfing. Maybe we’ll plan on doing all three to help celebrate the winding down of summer. August may turn out to be a busy, but highly entertaining month for us!

If you are planning on going to the opening of the new A Diary of A Wimpy Kid consider tweeting about it or Delmonte fruit cups as healthy snacks and please remember to use the hashtag #Snacks4WimpyKid and @DelMonteFoods

Watch Del Monte’s Facebook page for an upcoming Diary of A Wimpy Kid’s contest and be sure to enter too!

Do you have family movie night? What’s the last movie your family saw together? What snacks do you usually eat?

“This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. All opinions are my own.”

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Green Smoothies & Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead

Posted by Theresa Gould on June 22, 2012
in DVDs & CDs, Family Stuff, Food and Treats, Health, Health and Nutrition, Movies, Recipes

A couple of weeks ago at the homeschool convention the documenatry Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead came up in a couple of conversations, including one with my friend Audrey, who I was working with. It is a documentary about an Australian man who is overweight, became sick enough to be put on medications due to the health issues he was experiencing. He decides to go on a 60-day juice fast of green smoothies in order to improve his health. Juicing enables nutrients to get into the blood stream, unlike food that needs to be chewed, swallowed and digested.

Audrey is very health conscious, more so than me and had watched this documentary. I don’t think it was the movie that made her start drinking green smoothies as I have seen her drink carrot juice type drinks before. Well, she ended up bringing her older daughter and I a green smoothie on Saturday of the conference. I liked it and thought I could/should start drinking them too, but didn’t until nearly a week later.

Last weekend we finally watched the documentary Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead. It was really interesting. Inspiring even and amazing how much weight this man dropped. He was eventually able to get off all medications and get rid of his illness. He completely changed his lifestyle.

I ended up deciding I wanted to start drinking green smoothies. I wanted to do it for 60 days too, until I remembered that I am still breastfeeding and couldn’t. In a fast, like a juice fast, your body goes through what is called a detox. This is when your body releases toxins that are stored in your body. I would hate for my son to be affected by any toxins released into my breast milk as my body detoxed. That’s why I decided to start with one green smoothie a day and hopefully increase that after a while. I actually persuaded my husband that he needed to start with me! Because it’s much more fun to do something like this with someone rather than by myself. Yes, he actually agreed to start drinking green smoothies! He who has an aversion to any green vegetable except broccoli and kale soup! We also decided the children should join us. On Sunday all of us started drinking green smoothies….until my Bosch blender stopped working on Tuesday morning, but the part arrived yesterday so we are good to go again.

You can watch Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead too for free at this link: http://www.jointhereboot.com/

Green Smoothies

All I do for our green smoothies is use what we have on hand as far as vegetable and fruits go. At the beginning of the week we had carrot juice, bananas, grapes, orange juice, spinach (store bought), romaine lettuce, broccoli slaw, our spinach and arugula from the garden. I decided for the children and husband’s sake we’d start with the smoothies being on the sweeter side first and slowly decrease the amount of fruit we add.

I simply put the carrot juice in the blender first then added enough fruit and veggies to fill the blender, depending upon the consistency of the smoothie I would add more carrot or orange juice and blended it until it was smooth, not chunky. Everyone mostly liked the smoothies, even my almost 2 year old had 4 helpings of it! Though it was a little glass. We really only had 1 or 2 say something negative and 1 of those two outright didn’t like it, but we motivated him to drink it. My husband really liked the one batch that had more grapes in it, as he couldn’t taste the greens at all, even though the smoothie was indeed the color green.

Now I’m off to make our smoothies….

What have you been doing for your health and wellness?

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BRAVE in Theatres June 22!

Posted by Theresa Gould on June 18, 2012
in Family Stuff, Fun Stuff, Movie Monday, Movies

This is a rare Movie Monday about Brave…

Have you heard of Disney/Pixar’s new movie coming out next week? Have you watched any of the clips? I’ve received several to share but they usually get cast off for something else I have to work on. But today I am sharing one! Do the happy movie dance for me, ok? Ha-ha!

It is about a new princess, Merida, who seems to have a mind of her own. Very strong willed, passionate and courageous.

This looks like it will be quite the movie! What do you think of this hilarious new “Summer Games” clip?

It’s also a bit gross in parts with some little boy humor, eh?

Brave will be in Theaters near you on June 22. Check your local listings. In the mean time be sure to check out the movie’s Facebook page.

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Veggie Tales: Robin Good and His Not-So-Merry Men ~ Movie Review

Posted by Professor on April 9, 2012
in DVDs & CDs, Education, Family Stuff, Fun Stuff, Movie Review Monday, Movie Reviews, Movies, Uncategorized

Another great DVD from our friends at VEGGIE TALES!

Robin Good and His Not-So-Merry Men

Robin Good has a mission – fundraising from the rich and giving to the poor! But when greedy Prince starts stealing the townspeople’s hams, donations are down and Robin’s band of friends desert him to give robbing a try. Can Robin overcome his hurt, show his friends what’s right and restore the townspeople’s hope?

Bonus Features:

Leapin’ Leap Year Lesson
“Fun”-Raising with Larry
“Things Will Get Better” – Sing-along Songs
“Prince of Ham” – Sing-along Songs
Robin Good’s Guide to Handling Hurt – Discussion Guide
5.1 Surround Sound
English and Spanish Subtitles
DVD Format: NYSC/Region 1

PLUS! Silly Songs with Larry featuring Bubble Rap!

Running Time Approximately 50 minutes.

Our Review:

My family is HUGE fans of Veggie Tales…and this DVD did not disappoint! As a mother I especially liked the lessons presented in this DVD. This DVD came out just at the right time for us, during the Easter season because it teaches of the love of Jesus and what it means to give. Thus, a great lesson for Easter!

One bonus to the DVD is the discussion guide “Handling Hurt” … this was a great discussion in our house… the guide really helped open the children up to conversation!

And of course the Sing-along songs are always a hit! The best we have to say was “Bubble Rap”…the children loved this silly song with Larry!

One added bonus is that on the Veggie Tales website there are games and other activities for the children… nice interactive learning games and activities! You can even watch a preview of Robin Good!

For further information about the product and other offerings please visit www.veggietales.com

I noticed that the video is now on sale at the Veggie Tales store! You can buy your own DVD here: http://store.veggietales.com/robin-good-dvd.html

Faith and Family Reviews received the following product in exchange for writing a review. While we consider it a privilege to receive free products to review, our reviews are our honest opinion and thoughts of the product.

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Hungry for Change: From the Creators of Food Matters

Posted by Theresa Gould on March 21, 2012
in Community Issues, DVDs & CDs, Food and Treats, Free Stuff, Health, Health and Nutrition, Movies, News Worthy

I love sharing about new resources that educate people about our current Big Ag food system and anything that helps people realize we do not need big corporations controlling our food. Hungry for Change is a new movie from the creator of Food Matters (another must see!). This is a direct quote from FRESH’s email as I am about to watch the movie with one of my sons and whoever else is propelled towards the sound of a movie playing…..so here it is:

Today marks the worldwide premiere of Hungry for Change, and you can watch it online for FREE until March 31st. Check it out today!

http://www.hungryforchange.tv/fresh

In this movie, you’ll hear the truth behind “diet,” “sugar-free,” and “fat-free” products, and learn what to avoid in your supermarket. You’ll be inspired by transformational stories from people who have recovered from being sick and overweight. You’ll find the solutions to vibrant health for yourself and your family. So, watch the movie and share the knowledge with a friend–it may save a life!

To a more energetic you,

Ana and Crystal
The FRESH Team

P.S. Want to support good food and our work at FRESH? Consider adding to our tip jar.

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Watch FRESH online for FREE – 1 week only!

Posted by Theresa Gould on January 26, 2012
in DVDs & CDs, Food and Treats, Free Stuff, Guest Post, Movies

For today’s Thrifty Thursday post, we have a FREE movie! Those interested in our current food system you can now watch the movie FRESH online this week FREE! Here’s an email that I received from FRESH:

Here at FRESH, we’re always looking for ways to build the good food movement and reach a tipping point where sustainable food is the rule, not the exception. So, we’d like to continue spreading the word with an exciting new initiative: FRESH is available for viewing online for FREE! For a limited time (we do need to pay our bills after all), you can access the full-length film from your desktop. The movie will be available for one week, from Thursday, January 26th through Wednesday, February 1st, so don’t wait to watch! To access the movie, simply click below.

http://action.freshthemovie.com/p/salsa/web/common/public/signup?signup_page_KEY=6608

We hope that you will take the opportunity to enjoy the film and share it far and wide, with your friends, family, coworkers, school, baking club, gardening circle and more. After accessing the movie online, you’ll receive an exclusive link to purchase a FRESH DVD for home use for just $14.99, 50% off our regular price! Consider supporting FRESH and our work by buying or gifting a copy to someone you care about.

http://action.freshthemovie.com/p/salsa/web/common/public/signup?signup_page_KEY=6608

Cheers,

Ana and Crystal
The FRESH Team

P.S. Want to support good food and our work at FRESH? Consider adding to our tip jar.

Like this message? Forward it and pass it on!

Facebook
Twitter

Or, copy and paste the following text into Twitter: Watch @FRESHthemovie, FREE online till 2/1! Great film on how to put good food on every plate: http://bit.ly/AbfNsm

© 2008 FRESH the movie – New thinking on what we’re eating.

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Snowmen – The Family Movie Event of the Year

Posted by Theresa Gould on October 23, 2011
in DVDs & CDs, Family Stuff, Movie Review Monday, Movie Reviews, Movies

Snowmen is a all new heart-felt yet humors family-friendly movie about three young boys who want to make a difference and be remembered.

Our family loved this movie. We don’t know how the producers could make us laugh so hard at the same time we where crying. This movie was wonderful. All of our children loved it. And despite some rude humor, and mild language this movie was really good! It taught some great lessons about friendship, God, and making a difference.

Go see Snowmen in theaters! You and your kids will love it! You can learn more about Snowmen by visiting www.Snowmenmovie.com

Snowmen was created by the producers of notable films including The Passion of The Christ, The Ultimate Gift, and Braveheart.
The film stars Bobby Coleman (Last Song), Ray Liotta (Wild Hogs), Bobb’e J. Thompson (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs), Josh Flitter (Ace Ventura Jr.) and Christopher Lloyd (Back to the Future).

Faith and Family Reviews received a free screening of following product in exchange for writing a review. While we consider it a privilege to receive free products to review, our reviews are our honest opinion and thoughts of the product.