Butterbean’s Café: Let’s Get Cooking DVD Review & Giveaway

Step into the kitchen and get cooking with the fairy best team! Butterbean’s Café: Let’s Get Cooking is available now on DVD from Paramount Home Entertainment. In Butterbean’s Café: Let’s Get Cooking kids can help Butterbean outdo Ms. Marmalady with her yummy parfaits and tasty quiche; assist Cricket with her first menu as she learns to pipe icing on cupcakes; see Dazzle run the café herself and switch jobs with Poppy; and bake a little magic with Jasper and help the Bean Team find Cookie the cat!The DVD includes eight delicious episodes and four family-friendly recipes inspired by the show. A perfect gift for Valentine’s Day, the Butterbean’s Café: Let’s Get Cooking DVD can help you share the magic of cooking with the little ones in your life!

MY REVIEW
My five year old is definitely a fan of the show, Butterbean's Cafe, so when we received not only the Let's Get Cooking DVD for us to watch, but also a Fairy Treat Kit as well, she was absolutely thrilled. The kit we received came with the DVD, fairy wings, heart shaped mold for us to bake with and her very own Butterbean's Cafe magical whisk, along with some recipe cards for us to make some treats together, she was over the moon. She quickly put the wings on and grabbed her magical whisk and asked me if she could watch the DVD.


Let's Get Cooking includes eight different episodes of our favorite fairies and their cafe doing what they love to do, cook! Not only was my five year old glued to the screen, but she watched this DVD over and over again. With it's colorful scenes, fun adventurous story-lines, we watch as Butterbean tries to outdo Ms. Marmalady when it comes to cooking.


In each episode included on the DVD, we see Butterbean and our other favorite fairy friends on another adventure running the cafe and serving delicious healthy treats and snacks for their neighbourhood friends to enjoy.

This was such a great DVD to watch as it brought out the cook and baker in my little one. She absolutely loves to help in the kitchen and now with the magical whisk she received, she makes sure it's with her when she is helping her dad and I cook dinner.


GIVEAWAY!
With the release of the Let's Get Cooking DVD, we have teamed up with Paramount Pictures to offer our readers, both US and CANADA a chance at winning your own copy of Let's Get Cooking. All you need to do is leave a comment below sharing what you and your little one love to cook or bake together.
Disclosure: All opinions are my own. I received Butterbean Cafe: Let's Get Cooking on DVD at no cost for the purpose of this review. No other compensation was received.

Disney's Frozen 2 Review & Giveaway


Just in time for Valentine’s Day, the follow-up to 2013’s hit Oscar®-winning Best Animated Feature,“Frozen,” comes home, with a sing-along version and all-new extras, on Digital in 4K Ultra HD on Feb. 11, and on 4K Ultra HD™, Blu-ray™ and DVD on Feb. 25. “Frozen 2” bonus features include deleted scenes, deleted songs, Easter eggs, outtakes and a sing-along version with lyrics to the film’s forever-infectious songs. Extras invite viewers to go behind-the-scenes to hear personal, making-of stories from the “Frozen 2” cast and crew. Fans who bring the film home early on Digital will receive two exclusive extras: an interview with songwriters Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, who won an Oscar® for Best Original Song (“Let It Go,” 2014) and wrote seven original songs for “Frozen 2,” and a deleted song titled “Unmeltable Me.”


MY REVIEW
Some things never change, like the love that we feel for Frozen 2! our favourite characters are back at it again with a new adventure and catchy songs that will warm your heart. and let me just tell you this sequel lived up to the hype and was definitely worth the wait.

We were fortunate enough to see this movie in theatres and when we left, even my older teens were happy to have come along to watch it. And ever since we’ve seen it in theatre, there hasn’t been a full day where someone in my house doesn’t play a song from the movie or runs around the house saying, “Samantha?” out of nowhere, lol.

The movie opens up with our two favourite sisters from Arendelle, but when they were younger and playing in a small snow enchanted forest that Elsa created. They’re dad calls out to them both saying they have to get ready for bed. Seeing Elsa and Anna when they were little ones was one of my five year old’s favourite part. As they’re getting ready for bed their dad shares a story from his past that later comes in to play in the movie and then their mother sings them a bedtime song. This is the first of many beautiful songs to come in this movie.

As we come back to the present we see all of our favourite characters, including Olaf, Kristoff and Sven. This time around we see the group as a family and how happy everyone is, but something is calling for Elsa. A voice she tries to shut out, but eventually she has to go in order to help her find her true self as well as help the village she loves. This is where the group sets off and finds the Enchanted Forest. Throughout the movie we see all the characters trying to find a way to help Elsa become who she’s meant to be as well as keeping their village safe. This was such an amazing sequel and from beginning to end it was loved by my entire family. If you and your family were a fan of Frozen, Frozen 2 is definitely a must watch. Filled with lots of memorable catchy songs, new and old characters and a story-line that will just make your heart warm.

I’m so excited to collaborate with Disney Canada to offer one of our Canadian readers a chance to win your very own copy of Frozen 2. To enter comment below sharing you or your child’s favourite character from Frozen.
Disclosure: All opinions are my own. I received Frozen 2 on blu-ray at no cost for the purpose of this review. No other compensation was received.

Saint X By Alexis Schaitkin (Book Review)



Title: Saint X
By: Alexis Schaitkin
Publisher: Celadon Books
Publication Date: February 18, 2020
ISBN: 9781250219596
Pages: 352

Claire is only seven years old when her college-age sister, Alison, disappears on the last night of their family vacation at a resort on the Caribbean island of Saint X. Several days later, Alison’s body is found in a remote spot on a nearby cay, and two local men – employees at the resort - are arrested. But the evidence is slim, the timeline against it, and the men are soon released. The story turns into national tabloid news, a lurid mystery that will go unsolved. For Claire and her parents, there is only the return home to broken lives.

Years later, Claire is living and working in New York City when a brief but fateful encounter brings her together with Clive Richardson, one of the men originally suspected of murdering her sister. It is a moment that sets Claire on an obsessive pursuit of the truth - not only to find out what happened the night of Alison’s death but also to answer the elusive question: Who exactly was her sister? At seven, Claire had been barely old enough to know her: a beautiful, changeable, provocative girl of eighteen at a turbulent moment of identity formation.

As Claire doggedly shadows Clive, hoping to gain his trust, waiting for the slip that will reveal the truth, an unlikely attachment develops between them, two people whose lives were forever marked by the same tragedy.


MY REVIEW
I have become such a big fan of the thriller/mystery genre of books lately, so when I got a chance to review Saint X a couple months back, courtesy of Celadon Books, I was so excited because this was a book that was on my wishlist.

The story starts off in the 90's where we're introduced to a family on a family vacation at a tropical island, that doesn't end well. Their  18 year oldt daughter, Alison, goes missing and then eventually her body is found, washed up on the beach, by a couple in Faraway Cay. The police investigates everyone they can, including the boy that Alison was hanging out with a few times, but find no motive and eventually the case is left cold. Alison's younger sister, Claire is seven years old at the time and although Claire thought the world of her sister, following her every move and hanging on her every word, the night when she falls asleep Claire had no idea that would be the night that she would never see her sister alive again.

We're taken to the present, years later when Claire is an adult and she is living in New York City now. One day she steps into a cab and imagine her surprise when the cab driver is the same boy (man) who was questioned all those years ago for Alison's murder. This brings up so many questions and unresolved answers Claire has about who killed her sister during their family vacation and who her older sister really was.

This was a fantastic story! I absolutely loved the writing in this story and the topics the author wasn't afraid to talk about, racism, how people get treated when they have money compared to when they're less fortunate. We also get a good look into who Alison really was and why Claire is the way she is. 

What I loved about this story was how deep the author went when it came to Claire investigating the unsolved murder of her sister. Reading it felt as if I was doing the investigation as well with all the interviews, audio clips, diaries and autopsy reports and that ending is such a shocker. I am obsessed with this story and I encourage you all to pick this up as it is out in stores today! If you're looking for a great new mystery story to read, I highly recommend Saint X!

Disclosure: All opinions are my own. I received Saint X at no cost for the purpose of this review. No other compensation was received. 

BABY Born Surprise: Bathtub Surprise Review



My two youngest daughters love everything related to dolls/babies and accessories! They are always wanting new dolls to add to their collection to play with, so they were beyond excited when I presented them with the Baby Born Bathtub Surprise.


What a super cute baby doll this is! This baby comes with so many stages of discovery which kept my kids intrigued and entertained for quite some time. You start by wiping the baby's eyes to discover what color they are and from there you can place the baby in the water filled bathtub to find out what color hair your newly purchased baby has! I don’t know about you but, my kids get even more excited when they get to use water with toys so a real bath for their doll was truly the best part for them. Did I forget to mention this doll come with it’s own bathtub that is such a great size?!

The hair color changes when ice water is poured on the dolls head and will remain for a few minutes and then returns to the initial color out of the package. This allows for the kids to play with the doll over and over again as if it were the first time!



The doll also comes with a packaged t-shirt that will reveal itself once submerged in water which was yet another super exciting component that my daughters absolutely loved. Hold on though still more to this doll! In the package comes two diapers, a baby bottle, and a little chain link bracelet. This allows the kids to diaper the baby and feed it with a water filled bottle. Once the baby has had enough to drink, the diaper becomes wet and then the discovery of two different charms to be connected to the doll’s bracelet.

My girls really enjoyed this doll and I was very impressed with all the components and the quality of each piece. This doll has everything for a child who loves to role play as a mommy or daddy. It's been well over a month since I introduced this doll to my two girls and they are still loving her. I would definitely recommend this doll as it is a great addition to our doll collection!

For more information on BABY Born Surprise: Bathtub Surprise be sure to head over to their website, there you will be able to find where you can purchase this amazing doll for your little ones!

Disclosure: All opinions are my own. I received BABY Born Surprise: Bathtub Surprise at no cost for the purpose of this review. No other compensation was received