ABBA You Can Dance ~ Review and Party!
11:25 AM Posted by The Blue Zoo
The kids and I just love all the Just Dance games for the Wii. I like them because not only are you playing a game you're getting a workout too! The boys like the dancing games because they get to laugh at how bad of a dancer mommy is... Ha! Oh well, at least it's fun right?
So I knew that we would have fun with the ABBA You Can Dance game. We even had a whole dance party! I tried to get everyone to dress up 70's style... But none of us had any 70's kind of clothes. So we just went with the comfy look. I loaded up on tons of snack foods, we had tons and tons of chips and dips, hot wings, cheesesticks, taquitos, jalepeno poppers, and pies for dessert! You can never go wrong with chips and pie.
I didn't really know how to decorate for a 70's ABBA party. But obviously a disco ball is a must have!
After we all got done pigging out we were more than ready to burn some calories and get our boogie on! I was surprised that I only knew a few of the songs. But even more surprised that my two 11 yr old nieces knew ALL the songs! Apparently all these dance songs are on that Mama Mia movie, that I never saw. I have boys! They aren't interested in musical movies about girly love stuff. Either way - you don't have to know all the songs to boogie down! But if you happen to have a Mama Mia fan, they are going to love this game.
The kids had so much fun with the group dances. And my 10 yr old really appreciated having the option to pick a guy to be his avatar. He refuses to dance if he has to be a girl!
I finally had to wrestle the controllers away from the youngin's and try the dancin' out for myself! Even though I didn't know any of the songs the dances were fun! My sister and I were cracking up as I was falling all over myself. Coordinated I am not. Gavin took some pics of us and all the ones with me in them are blurry, except this one -
We all just had a blast with this game! If you're still Christmas shopping this would make a great gift for any family. Or get it for yourself and throw a fun 70's party! You can get it right at Toys R Us.
Thank you to Ubisoft for sponsoring this blog post. Please click here to learn more about Ubisoft. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective. All opinions are my own.
Quick And Easy Holiday Dessert
11:40 PM Posted by The Blue Zoo
The holidays are a great time to get together with friends and family. Well, really anytime is a good time! But it just seems more special during the holidays. Or is that just me?
I just love getting together with my friends and going out to eat or getting pedicures. Catching up and spending time together even during the busy holiday season is important to me. I like to make goodies and watch Christmas movies, or go shopping together, or even chatting at the grocery store! We're all busy and I'll take what I can get!
There always seems to be lots of chances to get together though. There are Christmas parties galore, potlucks, cookie exchanges, all sorts of get togethers planned during the holidays! Which I love of course! I'm all about the food! People usually do lots of their very best baking during the holidays. So the yummies are especially yummy!
But with all the shopping and the gift wrapping and the parties and the regular day to day STUFF - we don't always have the time to make every little thing from scratch!! Sometimes we just need something quick and easy. But it still has to be just as good, if not better, than something we would make from scratch right? Or maybe you want something super yummy and you're planning on passing it off as homemade! Ha!
Here is a super easy dessert you can put together for your next holiday get together (Or you can just make it for yourself! It's so good you may not want to share!!) -
Prepare a Duncan Hines Triple Chocolate Decadent cake mix according to package directions. I like to use a 9 inch cake pan to bake it in. Let it cool for abut 15 minutes, if you can wait that long! Cut into wedges and top with Wilderness raspberry topping. Then you can either use ice cream on the side or you can use whipped cream. It's up to you. Heck, you could use both!
Mmmmmm, who can resist chocolate and raspberries?? Not me!
The chocolate cake is so moist and when you serve it warm it is AMAZING. No one would even have to know it came from a mix! Plus you could use any fruit topping you want. I bet cherries would be good. But raspberries are my favorite!
There you go, a quick dessert you can whip up the next time you're hanging out with your friends! Try it and let me know what you think!
Remember to check out Duncan Hines' website www.duncanhines.com to find some great recipes for your holiday get-together! I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective.
Assassin's Creed Revelations Review
10:51 AM Posted by The Blue Zoo
My husband is a "gamer". And now my boys are turning into little gamers too. Sometimes I come home from running errands and they are all geeked out - Hubs will be on the PS3, and the little ones will either be on the Xbox or their DS's or their mini laptops playing games on there.
But it does make shopping for my husband a litte easier, because we all know sometimes guys can be so hard to shop for. I can just get him a new video game and he's happy. But, even if you know they like video games, you never know which game to get. Video games can be pretty spendy and there's no way you want to spend that much money on a game unless you know they are going to like it!
My husband has been a fan of the Assassin's Creed games since the first one came out. He has them all for the PS3 and at least one for the PSP. My 10 year old even has one of them for his Nintendo DS. So when I asked my husband if he wanted to help me out with my blog by reviewing the new Assassin's Creed Revelations ALL the boys said yes!
All my boys just love watching daddy play this game. Mostly they like for him to climb tall buildings, like this -
And then they like him to jump off -
I really have no idea why this appeals to them so much. But it really does! And as long as the guy lands in a flower bush or a pile of hay the guy doesn't die. Which makes no sense to me what-so-ever, must be a boy thing! Ha!
So, after my husband played the game for about 10 hours straight, (Not even kidding!) I asked him how he liked it so far.... His reply? "It's good." Chatty he is not. Maybe I should have waited til he was done playing!
I really liked that the graphics are so real looking! There were a couple times I had to stop and watch because the background is pretty and real looking. Not like other games he plays where the background is just kinda blah. I also liked that even though there is fighting and killing - it's not that graphic. There is a little blood splatter, but not enough to bother me. So I let all the boys watch daddy play the game. (Ages 5 through 10.)
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| This pic is a little blurry cause I was using my cell camera and he was moving. But when you're playing it's VERY clear! |
This is what my husband had to say about the game -
Although it is a continuation of a series you wouldn't neccassarily have to have played the other games to enjoy this one. But you would probaby want to! He enjoyed that the basic game play was the same as the previous games, but that they added new weapons and new tools to change things up a bit. The graphics are awesome! There is a lot to do - missions, tasks, storyline. Lots of stuff to do so that you will be playing for a long time. This isn't a game you will be done with in a few hours. (And us wives can decide if that's a good thing or not!) He hasn't heard any cursing yet, and the blood and violence is "mild". (But, of course, it depends on how you play the game. You could just walk around killing anything and everything. But he doesn't cause that isn't the point of the game.)
For TODAY only you can get Assassin's Creed Revelations on sale at Amazon!! (<--- Click the link!) Would make a great gift for that hard to buy for gamer in your life.
Thank you to Ubisoft for sponsoring this blog post. Please click here to learn more about Ubisoft. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective. All opinions are my own.
Sam's Club iPad App Review ~ It's Awesome!
1:25 AM Posted by The Blue Zoo
One of the funnest things about having an iPad is getting to check out all the cool apps available. I'm sure I don't have to tell you that there really is an app for just about anything and everything you can think of! The trouble is that not all of those apps are good. (Nothing irritates me more than actually paying for an app and finding out it really sucks! That's why I usually stick to the free ones.) So when you find an app that really goes above and beyond what you were expecting, it really sticks out. Especially when that app is free!
I really haven't seen very many shopping type apps. And the ones that I did see weren't all that great. I ended up not even using them because they were so user unfriendly and it was just easier to go to their websites. I really wasn't sure what to expect when checking out the new Sam's Club iPad app. Would it be just a regular app with not a lot of options?
No!
I opened the app as soon as it was done loading and I was instantly impressed with the design. It's so bright, colorful, fun and inviting.I couldn't wait to push all the buttons and see what this app could do. First off, I really loved the winter theme! And it will change with the seasons, how fun! Definitely put me in the mood to do some Christmas shopping... ;)
Everything is labeled so well that you can easily click on whichever section you are most interested in. Right smack in the middle is a snow globe that will show you Holiday Gift Guide, underneath you can see the section for new items, in the upper left hand corner is a bright green icon where you can search for particular items. It's all very convenient and very user friendly. My 5 year old has already figured out how to get to the toy section!
Right away I noticed the recipe section. I love recipes so this was right up my alley! The Sam's Club app makes it really easy to see the different categories. Each recipe has a beautiful photo. And it's really convenient that you can email the recipe or share it on Facebook and/or Twitter. Plus you can make a list of all the ingredients you might need with the handy list feature.
Another thing I really love about the new Sam's Club app is that you don't have to be a member to view it. You can explore as much as you want! Of course, after you check out all the super awesome deals, you're probably going to want to get a membership. (I know I did!) Which you can purchase right through the app! Very convenient.
The Sam's Club Holiday Gift Guide will for sure help you with any hard to buy for people in your family. Love that there is a "Value of the Day!" What a great way to save!
Of course, and I'm sure this is no surprise, my favorite section of the gift guide is the free shipping section! I just simply love free shipping. Even though Sam's Club has decent shipping charges, free is still better - right?
Are you lucky enough to have a Sam's Club nearby? I'm not. The nearest one is 2 1/2 hours away. Makes it a litte hard for any impromptu shopping trips. And before this app came out I didn't even have a membership! But now that this app is so easy to use and I have the option to have my stuff shipped to my house or do a "Click 'n' Pull" I knew I just had to get a membership.
Have you heard of this "Click 'n' Pull" thing? Basically you shop through the app, add the stuff you want to your cart, do the easy peasy check out and then you can pick up your order the next day! Someone else will do all the shopping for you, all you have to do is pick it up! Do you know how much easier this is going to make my life?? Since I live so far away this will save me so much time. Now the day before we are going to go to Reno I can make an online order and just pick it up the next day!!! Can we say convenient?!
This app has so many fun things to check out that I realized I still haven't seen it all! I just found this holiday decorating section yesterday. I've always thought it would be fun to have some sort of fancy decorated Christmas tree. You know, all matchy matchy and looking like it belongs in a mall somehwere. So I really loved this step-by-step guide that tells you how to trim a tree, complete with videos and then shows you all these fun "themed" trees. If you see a theme you just can't live without, you can easily see which ribbons and ornaments and such you need to copy the look and add them to your cart to purchase.
Overall this app is easy, fun, free to use, and the absolute best app I've seen from a retailer! This is the app that all the other retailers will be copying. I love shopping (and saving) right from the comfort of my own couch. And I like that this app isn't just about trying to sell you stuff, there are so many different sections. Like the holiday decorating tips and recipes and the events calendar that are so helpful! Plus Sam's Club will have Wi Fi in their stores so you can use the app while shopping.
The Sam's Club app is available for iPad, iPhone and Android too!
Try it and tell me what you think!
** I received product to facilitate my review, all thoughts and opinions are my own. **
