THE HUNT HAS OFFICIALLY BEGUN!

Starting today until Saturday September 11th, Cover FX will be placing treasure boxes throughout selected cities across the US.

Fan Cover FX on Facebook to learn specific clues and locations on where you can find the hidden treasures in a city near you.  All packages include the new Eye Prep FX, and some lucky winners may receive gift cards up to $100 for Sephora!  Let the games begin!.

Here is a direct link to the ‘game’ instructions on CoverFX Facebook page.

Have fun!

Treasure Hunts aren’t just for kids! Join in on the Cover FX treasure hunt. is a post from: The Mommy Insider. It looks like you are reading this post in your favorite RSS reader. Don't be shy..hop on over to check out our current giveaways, coupon codes, and to share your comments!

PicPocket Books for the iphone

Now kids can enjoy their favorite books from your iPhone!  Forget the playstations, game consoles and DVDs, our mobile picture books will entertain and educate your child in the car, plane, train and more.

It’s almost a nightly ritual that after reading books, Madelyn gets my iPhone and read/watch two of Madelyn’s favorite PicPocket books; Eric And The Enchanted Leaf: The First Adventure by Deborah K. Frontiera and BlueBeary by Kathleen McMillan.

Madelyn with PicPocket Books app on my iPhone

PicPocket Books show both the words and the images from the book on your phone and readers can choose to read a PicPocket book to Madelyn or to have the narrator read it.   And coming soon, friends and family can read and record the story in their own voices!  Madelyn can touch the screen to turn the page or I can set the app to turn the pages automatically which I do when I’m hoping Madelyn will sit and watch the book by herself for a few minutes.  The story can be paused anytime as well.

Madelyn is showing interest in learning to read and PicPocket books are great for that because the words are highlighted as they are read.  The graphics are incredibly sharp and high quality, it’s just like reading a book but with a shiny screen.

PicPocket Books specializes in adapting and creating children’s books for the iPhone and iPod and that is noticeable in the quality of their apps.  They don’t develop other types of apps which I think would diminish the quality of their book apps.  Great job PicPocket Books!

Follow PicPocket Books on Twitter

PicPocket Books Facebook page

PicPocket Books website

PicPocket books range in price from .99 to $3.99 per book.  You won’t be disappointed!

PicPocket books Eric and the Enchanted Leaf iphone book

PicPocket Books GIVEAWAY!

One lucky reader will win 4 PicPocket Book titles, for the iphone/ipod, of their choice from and 2 Kids Math Fun iphone/ipod apps!

How to enter to win:

• Mandatory – Fill out the form below.
• Optional for an extra entry – After you fill out the entry form, leave a comment telling us what your favorite PicPocket Book app is and why you want to win.
• Entires accepted through July 3rd

PicPocket Books – children’s books for the iPhone + a GIVEAWAY is a post from: The Mommy Insider. It looks like you are reading this post in your favorite RSS reader. Don't be shy..hop on over to check out our current giveaways, coupon codes, and to share your comments!

My kids love music. whether it’s making music or listening to it. I prefer it when they are listening not making. It gets a little loud and when my 10 and 3 year olds try to form a band in the kitchen.

We’ve been listening to KidzBop 16 a lot lately and I’ll tell you why I’m very happy about that:

• I recognize some of the songs (I don’t know whether that’s good or bad)
• The kids love to sing along
• The music is energizing for the kids and they have a blast dancing to it
• KidzBop is great car music. It keeps me moving (awake) and the kids happy while in the car

KidzBop 16 songs include Circus and Boom Boom Pow. KidzBop songs and albums can be downloaded via iTunes. Here is the iTunes link for Boom Boom Pow and from there you can listen to and browse other KidzBop songs.

Here’s the ITunes link to ‘Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree’:

GIVEAWAY!

We are giving 8 lucky readers a KidzBop 16 and KidzBop Christmas CD’s. Leave a comment below telling me what your favorite song is right now (any song/artist) and get 2 extra entries if you leave a 2nd comment with your Twitter ID AFTER retweeting this post!

KidzBop 16 & Christmas CD reviews and giveaway is a post from: The Mommy Insider. It looks like you are reading this post in your favorite RSS reader. Don't be shy..hop on over to check out our current giveaways, coupon codes, and to share your comments!

What a cool call! I just joined several other bloggers including Deb on the Rocks and Peeling an Orange with a Screwdriver on a call with Jason Schwartzman who plays Mr. Fox’s son Ash in Fantastic Mr. Fox!

Call Highlights:

• I love Jason’s voice
• Quote: “What, I’m on the ground digging with George Clooney and Meryl Streep?!” He was thrilled to be there with two great actors. The question was something like ‘what was the most fun moment during filming?’)
• Jason was obsessed with digging as a child

Movie Synopsis:

FANTASTIC MR. FOX is visionary director Wes Anderson’s first animated film, utilizing classic handmade stop-motion techniques to tell the story of the best-selling children’s book by Roald Dahl (author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach). The film features the voices of George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Wally Wolodarsky, Eric Anderson, Michael Gambon, Willem Dafoe, Owen Wilson, and Jarvis Cocker.

Mr. and Mrs. Fox (Clooney and Streep) live an idyllic home life with their son Ash (Schwartzman) and visiting young nephew Kristofferson (Eric Anderson). But after twelve years of quiet domesticity, the bucolic existence proves too much for Mr. Fox’s wild animal instincts. Soon he slips back into his old ways as a sneaky chicken thief and in doing so, endangers not only his beloved family, but the whole animal community. Trapped underground without enough food to go around, the animals band together to fight against the evil Farmers – Boggis, Bunce and Bean – who are determined to capture the audacious, fantastic Mr. Fox at any cost. In the end, he uses his natural instincts to save his family and friends.

Fantastic Mr. Fox is now playing in select cities and opens nationwide on Thanksgiving.

Are your kids excited about the movie Fantastic Mr. Fox?

Just enjoyed a conference call with Jason Schwartzman, Ash in Fantastic Mr. Fox is a post from: The Mommy Insider. It looks like you are reading this post in your favorite RSS reader. Don't be shy..hop on over to check out our current giveaways, coupon codes, and to share your comments!

Wednesday night, thanks to Mom Central and Feld Entertainment, my kids and I went to “Disney On Ice presents Celebrations!” and we had a blast! Before the show we attended a ‘meet and greet’ where we enjoyed party hats, coloring, yummy finger foods and lemonade. Thinking things couldn’t get any better than yummy finger foods, we were pleasantly surprised when we got to get a photograph with Mickey Mouse (below)!

I have never been to a show on ice before so I didn’t have any expectations but I left with really high expectations for our next show because this one was great! There were some numbers during which the little hairs on my arms stood up, not because I was cold, but because the beauty of the skaters and the music was incredible. The kids of course, didn’t look at the show at beautiful and some parts weren’t so beautiful (Halloween characters) but were awesomely fun.

During the show my 10 year old said “I feel like a kid again” and that he was having so much fun! A kid again? You’re only 10, I thought to myself.

The only part of the show that I wasn’t too thrilled about was the Halloween celebration. It’s not that I didn’t like it, I just thought it was a little over the top for a pre-schooler which is in the age range the show targets. Also, to put that part of the show so near the beginning doesn’t give the little kids enough time to get used to the loudness and lights before the crazy witches and ghouls are skating, screaming, and singing. That’s my 2 cents about that!

My favorite scene was the Japanese scene. The music and skating was beautiful. You can watch a short video of this part of the performance below.
My 10 year old son’s favorite ‘celebrations’ were Halloween and when the Toy Story characters (the pig is his favorite) came out toward the end of the show. My 3 year old daughter’s favorite parts were the brooms of Fantasia and the Christmas celebrations.

The show was amazing. It was great to see the kids with ‘permagrin’ and the look of awe on their faces when the skaters jumped and spun was incredible.

Our night out at Disney On Ice presents Celebrations! is a post from: The Mommy Insider. It looks like you are reading this post in your favorite RSS reader. Don't be shy..hop on over to check out our current giveaways, coupon codes, and to share your comments!

I know you’ve seen the commercials for Disney’s A Christmas Carol movie coming soon. Looks fun, doesn’t it?
Well, did you know that Disney’s A Christmas Carol Train Tour is coming to a city near you? Check out the tour map here because you don’t want to miss this!

There is an incredible new attraction that is traveling the country – Disney’s A CHRISTMAS CAROL Train Tour. Much like a ride at Disney World, this four-car Train Tour features vintage rail cars where guests can enjoy a once-in-a-lifetime attraction with a behind-the-scenes look at the magic, the spectacle and the cutting edge technology of Disney’s all-new motion picture A CHRISTMAS CAROL, directed by Robert Zemeckis and its all FREE!

Learn more about Disney’s A Christmas Carol film featuring Jim Carrey, coming out November 6th, here.

DISNEY: A CHRISTMAS CAROL–TRAIN TOUR coming to a city near you is a post from: The Mommy Insider. It looks like you are reading this post in your favorite RSS reader. Don't be shy..hop on over to check out our current giveaways, coupon codes, and to share your comments!