Funfilled Fourth

The Fourth of July is the ultimate celebration of Freedom and summer fun for the kids. This year while the squids were still not totally old enough to enjoy all the fun and festivities Big G had a blast and a front row seat to some of the best firework shows the East Valley (Phoenix metro) could display!

We discussed traveling to Shnepff Farms as they always have great year round celebrations. I have to say that their corn maze is the best in the fall and all around fun for the kids.

We talked about going to the Offroad Rodeo and watching the mud boggers and fireworks there.

We talked about driving into Fountain Hills to see the fireworks over the worlds tallest fountain.

But we did the poor man's, easy peasy Fourth of July and everyone was all around happy and had a great time. Plus we got a project done too!

We all crawled out onto the roof and got a 360 degree view of all the fireworks on display! We saw Tempe, Mesa, more Mesa, Fountain Hills, what a spectacular sight! Big G was going on and on about how awesome the sight was. To top things all off, the twins got to keep their bed times, so we weren't fighting with them, fighting the droves of people, the traffic, I mean if you count the bulldog, but all in all a great Fourth! We ended the night watching Star Wars Episode Six and had a cold bowl of vanilla ice cream. I mean how much more all American can you get?!

I hope everyone had a safe and happy Fourth of July!
The Fish Family has lots more to share including two more giveaways in store this coming week.
Have a happy and safe holiday weekend.

Giveaways GALORE

So many giveaways on the blogosphere that I wanted to take a moment this Saturday to promote them. Not only are they fabulous, but some are just splendid for the kiddies too!

Imagine all of your favorite girlie items in one giveaway!?

You can't?!!!!!

Well go check out Fantabulously Frugal with a giveaway of some great Etsy products, some Marc Jacobs, some Smashbox Lip gloss, all things trendy, and what every woman would want in her handbag! Check out the giveaway, ends soon!

Now want something for your little princess? How about some super safe, super sweet girlie nail polish for your little darling?

My dear friend and sister at The Greer Five is having a Piggy Paint giveaway! So be sure to go check her out. Not to mention she is giving away a gift certificate to ECOStore USA, some great books for you and the kids, she has got it all!! Be sure to check her out, her giveaways end soon too!

Go Go Pets Review & Giveaway

Some families enjoy the pleasure of adopting a new pet into the family. They are loved, petted, caressed, looked after, named, and then finally cleaned up after. The cleaning job is generally left to mom and dad.....in my household namely me. The most common request for pets that I have heard from mom's and dad's have been dogs, cats, fish, and hamsters.

The folks at Mom Select and Cepia Toy decided to choose Phoenix and the Phoenix-metro areas to invade and unveil "Go Go Pets." Go Go Pets are great because they mimic real life pets without all the fuss and my home was one chosen to review their hamster pets and the "habitrails" that were included.

So my family is the proud owner of a hamster named Mr. Squiggles. I am quite happy to have adopted and received Mr. Squiggles for a few reasons:

1. No mess. Hamsters are stinky, they live in cages, and they have all sorts of junk they make messes with. YUCK
2. Hamsters are a rodent....I hunt rodents like the pests they are. This rodent, you would never know he was and is a rodent.
3. The feeding, the cleaning, all the excelsior cedar for their cages, we don't need any of that.
4. I never have to worry about him dying and explaining to the kids why we put him in a shoe box....I just crack him open and pop in new AAA batteries.
   

When the box arrived and I opened to see all the different habitrails I was a bit overwhelmed and spent a good amount of time putting the pieces together. Not that there is a lot to them, just there were a number of habit areas for the little rodent. Plus having an antsy five year old doesn't help when you are trying to put something together as fast as you can so they can begin playing. So here is what some of the "habitrails" looked like partially assembled:












Now with any toy and or new animal you have to find a place for them and they all have little quirks, ticks, and annoyances for some parents, here are mine:

1. Immediately had to change the batteries. As with any new toy as the batteries installed are for demo use only and not full play so they die within an hour of hard play.
2. The habitrail comes apart easily requiring an adult to continuously put the contraptions back together.
3. Mr. Squiggles didn't like the wheel. He would fall over sideways, again requiring someone to fix him or get him off the wheel altogether.
   
4. The hamster is ALWAYS making noise. I don't mind toys that make noise, but there should be some shut off timer that after some time and no response the thing shuts up!
5. He likes to back up A LOT, so going forward around the habitrail was a task for Mr. Squiggles.

Now I am not saying anything bad about the toy itself, just that I have higher preferences as a parent and mom about some of the toys my kids play with. Overall though my oldest boy LOVES Mr. Squiggles and the Go Go Pets toy. My twins, they like it because they can play demolition team on the house and chase the little fur ball. My philosophy is if the kids like it and are happy with the toy with no complaints....I'm good as well.

Here is a good deal about Go Go Pets.....you get one too!! Yup, you get your very own hamster and a habitrail. No muss or fuss of a real hamster, but your kids get to enjoy all the endless hours and entertainment that the cute little rodent brings! He has a love setting where he purrs for you and talks and his Go Go setting where he is on the move! Want to win your own Go Go Pet and habitrail? Here is what you will get:

One Hamster - Chunk
One habitrail - Car & Garage

Now here are all the rules for playing and you must post a comment for each entry and the additional entries thereafter to increase your odds (1 comment = 1 entry, Rinse and Repeat). Let me also say...if you don't follow the rules.....no loot.......no email, no loot, rules are made for a reason and to avoid spammers! So let the fun begin:

1. Follow my blog and tell me you do so or have done so, make sure you leave a valid email addy. (Worth 1 entry)
2. Subscribe to my blog in a feed, then come tell me you did so. (Worth 1 entry)
3. Follow me on Twitter @KariewithaK come back and tell me so (Worth 2 entries)
4. Tweet my giveaway on Twitter, come back and tell me you did, one per day please! (Worth 3 entries)
5. Grab my button to your right, add it to your blog, come back and give me the link showing you did! (Worth 5 entries)
6. Tell me why you would want one of these cute little fur balls for your kiddos, with your valid email addy. (Worth 2 entries)
7. Blog about this giveaway with the Mom Select button below and my button, come back and give me the link. (Worth 6 entries!!)

Now if you do not provide a valid email address you will be excluded from the drawing. The giveaway ends on June 7th @ Midnight AZ Time. I will choose a winner from Random.org

Good luck and have fun!

Day 4 "FREE" Week Product Review - Dr. Ron's Ultra Pure Body Care Body Lotion

Good Morning for Day 4 of The Five Fish "FREE" Week!

Okay so we are showcasing the talented Dr. Ron again because why.....well we love his preservative free, super smelling products, and well they were FREE to try out so why not?

Today the review is of the Dr. Ron's Ultra Pure Body Care MSM Body Lotion in Kiwi. Sounds delish right? Well it absolutely is! Here is why I love lotion so much and wanted a preservative free lotion. I am a native of Arizona, when you think of Arizona you think Grand Canyon, Phoenix, HOT.....BLOODY HOT!! Then if you have ever met a native we always tell you, "It's a Dry Heat." We are truly full of it when we tell you this.....it's so hot you can bake yourself and a batch of cookies, your lipstick can melt in seconds, and your cell phone can be cooked so fast you have to put it in the freezer just to see the screen again. Plus shorts....forget it, when you get in your car the bottoms of your thighs just took a scorching too, they are now "tender loins"! Anyway, being that the weather here is so...dry...our skin is as well requiring lots of re-hydration. Plus swimming in the summer further parches our environmental armor, which means we need more lotion. Not all lotions are exactly alike. I have used Vaseline, I have used Nivea, I have used Aquaphor, I have used Aveeno, I have used everything known to man to soften and quench my poor skin. I am lucky I don't look like saddles bags walking my skin is so leathery. My skin also is prone to break outs, by break outs I mean all of the sudden I will have a rash........not sure where it came from, which product, but more than likely from my lotion or perfume so I have to be safe in what I use so I don't look like a spotted red leopard.



If you don't know Dr. Ron, check him out and here is some background and info on the

MSM Body Lotion in Kiwi:

MSM Body Lotion - Unscented or Kiwi

• A 15% MSM solution and botanical extracts in a base of apricot, almond and jojoba oils moisturizes, refreshes, restores and protects your skin.
  Soothing to aching muscles and joints.
  Use as a hand lotion, or after a shower or bath over the entire body.
  Unscented is a gentler formulation, for those with sensitive skin.
  Kiwi is scented with a higher concentration essential oils, including kiwi oil. Unscented and Kiwi, each eight ounces

When Dr. Ron sent me the shipment of all the beauty products, my first true product that I tried was the lotion. I am a lotion whore!! Ask my sister, she saw my endless collection of designer perfumes and lotions. But this lotion was like no other that I had tried. I put some on immediately after opening my bag of goodies. At first I smelled.....love the smell. A very soft, subtle, delicate hint of kiwi that isn't overbearing where you end up smelling like a tween at a school dance or like that stripper from your DH's, buddy's bachelor party....girls you know the smell! Anyway, I was reveling.....and then I applied.



Hmmmm, silky, soft, smooth, glides over every inch without having to reapply more, hmm, not sticky, still damp. So I gave the lotion a bit more time so I could really gauge the effectiveness and overall results. The damp feeling subsided which was very nice, I hate feeling like I just lubed up with something, I want to feel like a woman, not someone who is attempting a circus feat. Some lotions leave this greasy, heavy residue and often all the perfumes and other additives make my skin feel weird and even more dried. Or the damp and sticky feeling stays and when you get dressed your clothes stick to you. So I liked that Dr. Ron's lotion dried but without drying me out. So ladies and gents if you love you some lotion but don't want to smell like you put on perfume, but you still want to smell fresh then Dr. Ron's is the way to go.

Make it a great Thursday!! The week is almost up...tomorrow is internal review day!

The views and opinions expressed on this blog belong purely to Karie Herring. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider, or party in question.