Have you kids gotten into the slime craze?  My two boys love anything messy so they were thrilled to get a chance to review Slime Freak!

Our Slime Freak kit arrived in the mail neatly packaged and nestled in with packing material to make sure it came to our door safely.  We received a basic slime kit, 2 pre-made slimes, and some bead add-ons.  The boys chose to play with the pre-made slimes first.  Since birthday cake is my youngest’s favorite flavor of anything, he played with that slime first.  You can tell from his expression that he loved it!  My oldest also voted this as the best smelling.

My oldest chose to make the basic kit and really enjoyed the the feel of the bead add-on.  You can watch him follow the kit’s directions in the video below.

All in all, both boys loved the Slime Freak and highly recommend it.  The creator was easy to contact with questions we had and I thought the packaging looked simple and was effective at keeping the slime in the correct condition upon delivery.

You can check out more about Slime Freak on Etsy HERE.

Disclosure:  I was given a free slime kit and some add-ons for my family in order to complete this review.  All thoughts and opinions are 100% my own.

Tuesday night my family and I had the chance to see the new #LEGOBatmanMovie-and we loved it!  My 6 year old is more than slightly obsessed with Batman so this movie was one we just HAD to see.  The action packed experience was everything we had hoped for and kept both boys entranced the entire time-they only took one bathroom break.  That is HUGE for them since we normally have to take at least 3 bathroom breaks during movies!

For those of you that have not seen the numerous advertisements, here is a little snippet to give you the low down on the movie:

In the irreverent spirit of fun that made “The LEGO® Movie” a worldwide phenomenon, the self-described leading man of that ensemble – LEGO Batman (Will Arnett) – stars in his own big-screen adventure.  But there are big changes brewing in Gotham, and if he wants to save the city from The Joker’s (Zach Galifianakis) hostile takeover, Batman may have to drop the lone vigilante thing, try to work with others and maybe, just maybe, learn to lighten up.

The movie is rated PG for “rude humor and some action”.  As a parent of a 6 and 8 year old, the “action” isn’t anything that raised eyebrows.  Some things that probably fall under the rude humor are a few adult jokes that completely went over my children’s heads and seemed harmless, but there were several words such as “sucks” and jokes about butts that could also fall under the rude humor category-but if you’re a parent of boys, anything with “butt” in it is funny to them.  Otherwise I thought most things were completely fine for the boys.  They were used sparingly, and honestly, the boys didn’t seem to even notice them.

As I mentioned, the movie was anything but boring-it was a nonstop series of bad guy shenanigans, Batman saves, and Gothem mahem.  The movie showed several emotional sides to the Batman character and gave my boys a history of Batman and other “bad guys” they didn’t already know about previously.  There were also several lessons embedded in the movie such as the importance of teamwork, not being scared to take chances, and the importance of family.  This made a Mommy’s heart happy.

All in all, the LEGO Batman Movie was a real hit for my boys. They have been excited about the movie since the first commercial they saw and it did not disappoint.  Two quotes I received from them were, “That was better than the original LEGO movie” and “That was the best Batman movie ever!”

 

Disclosure:  I was given free passes for my family in order to complete this review.  All thoughts and opinions are 100% my own.

Today my family and I were lucky enough to be able to see The Jungle Book in Dolby Cinema at AMC Prime Hampton. We were extremely impressed at the quality of the theater. It was such a great experience!

The sound quality of the movie, because of the way the theater is set up, was out of this world. You can see in my 2nd and 3rd picture below – everything that is lit up red, is a speaker!  The seats vibrate along with the movie (we felt every lion’s roar, every clap of thunder, every rock slide down a mountain!) but at the same time, were extremely comfortable. Not to mention the fact that they recline and you have complete control over your leg rest and headrest. The controls are located on the armrest and they are very easy to understand. The armrests also fold all the way up, which is a plus for little ones who like to be close to their parents!

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Yesterday the family and I were able to see Disney’s new movie Zootopia at Dolby Cinema at AMC Prime.  The theater provided an amazing movie going experience!  The reclining seats were not just huge, but very comfortable as well.  Each seat’s position could be controlled easily and I liked that the armrests were also able to fold all the way up so that my 5 year old could snuggle close during the few scary parts of the movie.  The sound of the movie theater was outstanding and you could even feel certain scenes from Zootopia via the vibration feature the seats have!  If you have a chance to visit the AMC Prime theater, you definitely should-It was one of my favorite trips to the movies! Just check out what the inside of the theater looks like! How could you not want to watch a movie here?!

Here’s a bit more about Dolby Cinema at AMC Prime:

Dolby Cinema delivers the total cinema experience. It combines powerful image and sound technologies with inspired cinema design to make every visit a completely captivating cinematic event. Dolby Cinema includes Dolby Vision—a state-of-the-art authoring and playback imaging technology that enables the cinema to bring the story alive on screen. Outfitted with Dolby Atmos, Dolby Cinema transports audiences into the movie with breathtakingly real sound that fills the cinema and flows all around them.

Now let’s talk about the movie Zootopia- it was everything the kids and I had hoped for!  The entire family’s favorite part was the sloth scene that has been advertised on the commercials.  That was one of many laugh out loud moments for parents and kids alike! Who can’t relate to being stuck in the DMV office?!

I really loved the messages of the movie that were shown via Judy Hopps character.  Without giving too many spoilers, Judy taught us that you can be anything you want to be, that we should all try to make the world a better place, and that change can start with each and every one of us.  When I asked both kids what they thought they could learn from the movie, they both said that “We can be anything we want to” so the movie did a great job of getting that message across to kids.  Zootopia did not disappoint with touching scenes, hilarious one liners, and even a few scary parts.  My 5 year old wasn’t very keen on those parts so you may want to consider that when taking children younger than 6.  However, my 7 year adored the movie and wants to go see it again! He really enjoyed trying to help Judy Hopps and her friend Nick figure out the mystery in the movie. Here is a picture of Judy and Nick that give you an idea of houw their partnership begins:

 I loved the movie and will be happy to take him for a repeat viewing! Here is the official trailer for the movie in case you have not seen it yet:

All in all, our experience at Dolby Cinema at AMC Prime watching Zootopia was a great family day.  We were all able to enjoy a wonderful movie together in a super comfortable setting.

If you’re planning to see Zootopia, or already have, be sure to click the links below to get your free coloring and activity sheets!

Zootopia Coloring Pages

Zootopia Animal Tracks activity sheets!

If you want to experience the Dolby Cinema in the format I was able to at AMC Prime, here is a list of theaters across the country!

 

Arizona AMC Desert Ridge 18

Georgia AMC North Point Mall 12

Illinois AMC Hawthorn 12

New Jersey AMC Garden State 16

Northern California AMC NewPark 12

Southern California

• AMC Burbank 16 
• AMC Century City 15

Texas

• AMC Deerbrook 24 
• AMC Willowbrook 24 

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Dolby Cinema™ .  All opinions are 100% my own and may differ from others. #Zootopia #DolbyCinema #ShareAMC

 

How excited would your child be if they were reading their favorite Christmas book and a couple of pages into reading, realized THEIR name was a part of a book? That special moment is made possible with the company I See Me!

I See Me is an online site that allows you to personalize books, ornaments, placemats, and more with any name you would like. You even get to add pictures to some of their items!

  

I was thrilled to receive 2 unique placemats and 2 ornaments in the mail from I See Me!.  The boys flipped to see their names on the items. I love the ornaments because they have their names, the year, and their picture. They are certainly keepsakes I will keep forever.  The boys have used their placemats for every meal since they came in the mail!

If you’re wondering how expensive personalized items like this can be, the answer is that they are very reasonable. Many items start at $9.99 but there are some cheaper options as well. There are even personalized coloring and activity books in the $9.99 range! Ordering from the site is very easy and I was shocked at how quickly my items came in the mail!  You certainly won’t be disappointed with I See Me!

I’ll leave you with a couple of more items from their website that I just love…..

If you’re local to Hampton Roads and looking for an amazing photographer, I have to tell you about Angela Douglas Photography.  

Angela has been photographing my family since my 5 year old was born.  She is patient, creative, and did I mention patient?  Neither one of my boys is a fan of sitting still and smiling but Angela somehow still manages to pull off pictures of our family that I simply adore.

We always go to a different area to shoot pictures with Angela so it’s never the same shot over and over again each year.  She is gifted at allowing us to see our family grow and change over the years in diverse settings that are intimate for the family and perfect for the boys.

This year, Angela wanted to try a contrast of formal wear with the very modern Neon District of Downtown Norfolk.  Her creative ideas never cease to amaze me.

If you want a more traditional family photo, Angela can certainly give you that.  Here are some of the shots she has gotten of us in the past-but remember, she’s wildly original and if you don’t have an idea of settings or scenery, she’ll get one for you.

Angela doesn’t just do family shots. She can do infant sessions, smash the cake, trash the dress, corporate functions, and even school pictures!  You can see her entire gallery of talent at Angeladouglas.com

This past week we met with our favorite family photographer and had pictures taken.  I can’t wait to see the results and of course order our Christmas cards.  Last year, I used Minted Christmas cards and without a doubt, I will surely use them again.  Their cards are very high quality, affordable, and there are sooooo many designs to choose from. I can’t even tell you how many compliments I got on my cards last year! Everyone is bound to find the perfect card for their family!

Just check out some of the cool cards I found while previewing them tonight:

This is on the top of my list of favorites:

If you’ve only got one picture, I love both of these:

It’s very obvious that Minted has something for every taste and they also have more than just holiday cards!  Keep an eye out in the next couple of weeks when I will share this year’s Christmas cards from my family. Which design do you think I’ll choose?  Which is your favorite?

There is also a special happening until 11/24:  You can score 15% off + free recipient card addressing!  Use code CHEER15 to take advantage of the savings!