Review – Nightwolf's Den

App for fun and learning

Dislaimer: I was provided with a subscription to Kidloland. All opinions are my own unless otherwise stated.

It’s no big news that we’re a tech savy family. Both Miss K & Miss A have their own iPads and when it comes to apps for both girls I really like to try and mix educational and fun.

Obviously we have the usual young children favourites – Peppa Pig, ABC 4 Kids, YouTube for Kids (and endless loops of Hobby Kids TV *sigh*) but one we have been using a lot for the last few months has been KidloLand. It’s an app aimed at children 0-5 but slightly older kids might enjoy it too. Miss K (who is 6) enjoys helping Miss A (who is now 2) to play some of the games when she gets stuck so there is a wide skill range. At the time of writing there are over 800+ nursery rhymes, songs, stories, games and activities!

The app is free and comes with a sample of each section and is enough to keep younger kids amused but as they age the subscription is really worth it as it gives you access to everything at once and all updates during your subscription. Each song contains fun graphics and interactive elements so they kids can interact with the songs instead of just staring at their screen. Everything is downloaded to the device so they can still use the app with no internet – an awesome bonus for travel! The downloads are small so you don’t have to worry about it filling up your device either. Have a kid who gets bored with apps easily? There are new updates monthly so there is always new content. We’re still finding new things each time we play.

Miss A is a keen learner and is picking up things so quickly (especially from her big sister). By playing the games in Kidloland she has now started counting along and is often singing nursery rhymes to us. She prefers the games and puzzles but will often go back to the nursery rhymes when she wants to just listen to some music. It’s a great all round app that does offer a variety of learning in a fun environment.

It’s available on iOS (KidloLand); Google Play Store (Nursery Rhymes For Kids) and Amazon Appstore (KidloLand)

The maker’s of Kidloland have kindly offered me 3 x 3 month subscriptions. If you’d be interested in checking it out, enter below.

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Of blankets and being comfy {Review & Giveaway}

GIVEAWAY FINISHED

Disclaimer: I was given a Laila cushion and throw to review. All wording (unless noted) and opinions are my own.

Now that we’re into winter again it’s time to dig out the comfy, warm blankets. Things that make you feel good when you snuggle up in them on a cold winter’s evening, or day if you’re like me. What? I’m pregnant, don’t judge me :p If your snuggly blanket looks great even better and another upside is it makes you feel good too.

I was recently sent a gorgeous Laila throw and cushion by the lovely people at Angads.

Now I’ll be honest and I wasn’t really sure I liked them to start with. Red really isn’t a colour I’ve used in our house BUT after snuggling up under the throw in bed one day when I was feeling a tad rubbish I realise it goes with the colours in our bedroom really well. The 150cm square, 100% cotton quilted throw is really warm despite it’s light weight. The ruffle is really cute but not too girly (ie hubby won’t mind having it on the bed). The 45 cm square decorative cushion cover is also 100% Cotton.

After spending that day snuggled up under the throw I decided to check out the Angads website and make a bit of a wish list, as you do.

For the bedroom I’m quite partial to :

L-R: Geisha, Lush Plum, Embroidered, Richard

For the Kids:

L-R: Laila Cot set, Tara Cot set, Twinkle Cot set, Snoopy Sean

L-R: Happy Daisy, Laila (what? I really like this one, so does Miss K), Princess Tara, Alex

Other bits and pieces I like:

I love masks and the Lucy Low, Feather & the Joker are my favourites and I’m partial to the small Buddha.

There are soooooo many pretty things in the ceramics section and I really love the Peacock Jug & Bowl, Topino Bird Leaf Platter, actually most of the Topino Bird series and the Nadia Tea Pot

I’m not even going to go into the sleepwear section LOL. Do yourself a favour though and have a look!

To feed your love of gorgeous things I have a throw and cushion pack to giveaway to one lucky reader. If you’re not lucky enough to win though there is a sale on at the moment. For your chance to win, please enter via the Rafflecopter below.
PLEASE NOTE – ENTRY OPEN TO AUSTRALIAN RESIDENTS ONLY.

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Mozzies b gone {Review, Giveaway}

Disclaimer – I was given some Para’Kito™ goodies to review. All wording and opinions, unless noted, are my own.

Now mozzies are probably something you think aren’t a big issue in Tasmania, especially as the weather gets colder but I can assure you I have sported some monster bites over winter in previous years. And don’t get me started on summer mozzies 😉 We’ve tried lots of different solutions to deter these buzzy pests but most smell vile and aren’t natural which isn’t a great option when you have littlies (or are pregnant).

Para’Kito™ provides a great alternative to those stinky, chemical sprays and roll-ons. Para’Kito™ pellets diffuse a blend, of 7 essential oils extracted from plants, which naturally prevents from mosquito bites effects (itching and irritation). The pellets can be used in the range of cute wristbands or clips.

The wristbands come in a range of colours and limited edition prints

and the clips also come in a range of funky colours

Now I’ll be honest, I haven’t actually had a chance to use the wristbands myself because as soon as they arrived Miss K pinched the Hawaii print one and insisted on wearing it night and day – even to her swimming lessons (which lead her to pinching the blue one because she left the other in her swim bag). We did notice that during the 15 days she wore it the number of bites on her legs and arms was significantly less than normal. I do have one of the clips attached to my bag.

So how do these wristbands and clips work & what are the benefits?

they use a blend of 7 essential oils that are known to have repellent properties
each pellet lasts 15 days
are suitable for the whole family – including young children, pregnant women and those with allergies
waterproof
suitable for all areas
wristbands and clips RRP $24.95
refill packs – 2 pack RRP $15.95 or 6 pack RRP $33.95

Looking forward to wearing these over the summer (if I can hide them from Miss K) as I really hate mozzie bites and we’ll hopefully have our new BBQ area set up (that’s another post in itself) so I plan on spending some lazy summer evenings outside and relaxing in the hammock.

Now onto the giveaway – one lucky reader can win themself a Para’Kito™ Family pack, valued at $90.80. The family pack includes 2 wristbands (with 2 refills), 1 clip (with 2 refills) and a 2 pack of refills.
Enter via the rafflecopter below. ENTRY IS OPEN TO AUSTRALIAN RESIDENTS ONLY.
Giveaway closes 18th May 2014.

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Touch-A, Touch-A, Touch Me {review}

Disclaimer: I was given a Touch by We Vibe to review. All opinions are my own.

Seriously, who doesn’t love a bit of RHPS

Today I’m sharing about another great We-Vibe product –the Touch. Like the Thrill, which I reviewed recently, this is a solo toy but it has so many more uses than just a personal pleasure device. We’ll get to that in a moment. First down to all the Touchy details 😉

It’s hand sized at just a smidge over 10cm long and 4.5cm wide.

It’s waterproof so you can use it in the bath or shower for some wet & wild fun 😉

The Touch has up to two hours of play on a single charge and the low-power alert tells you when to recharge. Using your iDevice power plug and the supplied cord, recharging takes around 90 minutes.

There are 8 vibration modes (low, medium, high, ultra, tease, wave, pulse and cha-cha) all controlled with one button at the base of the Touch. It’s also pretty quiet.

Made from body-safe silky soft medical grade silicone, it’s free from phthalates, latex and BPA but, as with all silicone toys, it is recommended that you only use a water based lube. If you want to find out why you shouldn’t use silicone lube with silicone toys, check out this video by lubzilla (probably not suitable for work or around kids as the other suggested videos are of a more adult nature). It’s also easy to clean – just use soap and water.

The Touch is for external use only and comes with a 1 year warranty.

I’ve also found the Touch is great for neck and shoulder massages. The tapered end makes it great for pinpointing sore spots and the rounded side is good for a general massage.

It doesn’t look like a vibrator so you can leave it out on the bedside table without it drawing too many questions (what? I forgot about it and where I’d left it one night). It’s a cute paperweight that doubles as a neck massager 😉

Like the Thrill it also comes with a cute little satin bag to keep it in and keep it dust/fluff/cat hair free. Makes it nice and portable too for traveling.

Would I recommend the Touch by We-Vibe? You bet. It’s a great little hand sized toy with the vibrations of a bigger toy. Oh and it’s purple.

Soft drinks while pregnant? You bet! {review}

Being pregnant means you should watch what you drink. I had gestational diabetes last pregnancy and really wanted to do whatever I could this time around to reduce my chances of getting GD again this pregnancy.
One of the things I did when I first found out I was pregnant was to stop drinking Coke, well to tell the truth I had to stop because it was making me sick – hello morning sickness!!

Thanks to the morning sickness I was a bit limited to what I could drink without feeling ill – water, sometimes juice, the occasional water cordial. No milk and nothing of the fizzy variety.

Enter the 2nd trimester and the end of morning sickness (yay!!) and I slowly introduced milk back into the diet and was ok. There was a definite craving for something fizzy but the amount of sugar in soft drinks is a bit frightening – 28g per 250ml in lemonade and 27g per 250ml of cola. Before you ask no I don’t do diet drinks or no sugar drinks, for one thing I’m not convinced that fake sugars are good for us and secondly I’m not a huge fan of the taste.

When I was offered the chance to try a low sugar, organic alternative I must say I was extremely curious. BIONADE (pronounced Bee-oh-nah-deh) is a range of organic fermented and carbonated beverages from Germany.

On first glance, you could be fooled into thinking it’s a trendy new post-mix alcoholic drink but no it’s a tasty low sugar drink that looks as good as it tastes.

So what is BIONADE and what makes it different from your average soft drink?

it’s 100% certified organic
it’s low in sugar (15.5g per 330ml serve)
Brewed like beer, but non-alcoholic
No colourants! No preservatives! No artificial flavours!
Gluten free. Suitable for vegetarians and vegans.

There are 4 flavours – ginger & orange, lychee, elderberry and herbs.

First up in my trial was the ginger & orange. Ginger is meant to be pretty good when you feel ill, be it from morning sickness, travel sickness or maybe just feeling a little seedy after a night out. I thought it might taste a little similar to IronBru (it’s a Scottish citrus, slightly gingery, soft drink, often described as “Scotland’s other national drink” (after Scotch whisky) and is the number 1 selling soft drink there closely followed by Coke) but it was more gingery with an nice orange aftertaste. Quite nice. I imagine it would make a good mixer.

I tried the Herb flavour and really wasn’t sure. Don’t think I would drink this one again.

Now I’m not a fan of lychees at all so was pretty hesitant about trying this flavour. Pleasantly surprised! It was sweet and a little tangy. Again it would probably make a good mixer.

I’ve left my favourite til last – Elderberry. It is super yum, sweet, fizzy and very moreish.

Hubby wasn’t taken with any of them but he’s pretty fussy. Miss K loved all of them and they are something I’d be happy to give BIONADE to her as a treat over lemonade or cola.

At this stage BIONADE is available online from http://www.drinks-logistics.com.au/ and selected retailers

And cause I love my readers I have a mixed case of 24 bottles of BIONADE to giveaway to one lucky Nightwolf’s Den reader. Leave us a comment with what you loved to drink when you were pregnant OR what you’d miss drinking if you were pregnant. Entry is open to Australian residents only. Winner will have 1 week to respond once the giveaway is drawn. Giveaway closes 26th March 2014

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Just a little Thrill

Disclaimer: I was given a Thrill by We Vibe to review. All opinions are my own.

Sorry couldn’t help myself, it does kind of set the tone
Now onto the other disclaimer – Mum, if you’re reading this you might want to skip this post. Everyone else… reading at work, probably Not Suitable For Work …. or around little kids or teens who get easily embarrassed (cause you know your parents don’t do anything sexual right LOL). You have been warned.

Right? Right onwards.

Sex toys. They aren’t really something we often discuss, at least not sober or without lots of giggling like schoolgirls. But I can bet you if you did some digging lots of people you know own at least one toy.

I’ve been a fan of We Vibe since I bought the We-Vibe 3 when it was first released. Won’t go into details about that but if you are interested you can go check out http://we-vibe.com/
Anywho, when I was given the opportunity to try out the Thrill I jumped at the chance.

This pretty ruby toy is, unlike the majority of We-vibe toys, designed with just women in mind. It’s contoured to reach both your g-spot and your c-spot.

Key features:

it’s 100% waterproof, meaning you can take the fun times into the shower or bath.
90 mins to recharge for up to 2 hours playtime – that’s if you last that long.
USB charging. Use your iDevice power plug and the supplied cord.
8 vibration modes all controlled with one button.
Quiet. Your housemates/kids/family won’t be able to hear it.
Easy soap and water clean up. Been on the safe side though and get yourself a good toy cleaner
Made with medical grade silicone – so only use a water based lube. Also great if you have sensitive skin!
1 year warranty
Carbon-neutral manufacturing, a rechargeable battery and recyclable packaging and materials make Thrill by We-Vibe an eco-friendly choice.

The Thrill is designed with the same C curve as other We-vibe products and while the insertion end of the We-Vibe3 is designed slimmer to allow for wear during sex, the Thrill is defiantly for solo play. Slightly thicker but you still get the feeling of fullness similar to when using the We-vibe with a partner.
The design is very hand friendly and comfortable. I personally found the handle a little annoying to use but it’s still comfortable. The inner vibrations are just the right strength but the outer vibrations can be a little weak. Especially if you own a body wand/Hitachi/Lelo wand massager.
Another plus is that it doesn’t look at all phalic, great if you have littlies who like going through your drawers (lucky that has never happened to me, but I have heard of it happening).

The Thrill has won a heap of international awards including Best Female Product – 2013 TWO Awards (United Kingdom), Most Innovative Pleasure Product – 2013 Adultex Awards (Australia) , Highest Potential Product – eroFame 2012 (Germany) and the Powered Pleasure Product of the Year – XBIZ 2013 (USA)

I have a Thrill by We-Vibe to giveaway to one lucky reader. To enter, and since this giveaway is for the girls, let me know your favourite way to find treat yourself? For me – time alone to do some scrapbooking uninterrupted. Due to the nature of this giveaway entrants must be 18+. Open to Australian residents only. Drawn 13/12/13

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From the Den

Disclosure: I was given product or vouchers to trial the following products. All opinions are my own.

It’s been awhile since I’ve shared what we’ve been checking out so it’s a bit of a mish mash list

Table of plenty Hot or Cold Muesli

I’m a bit of fan of the Table of Plenty Nono’s bars and mini rice cakes (especially the Triple Berry ones) so when asked if I’d like to try Hot or Cold Muesli I said yes, especially with winter coming up (at the time). We’ve tried it hot and it is rather yum. It’s oats with honey and cinnamon sprinkled with pepitas and sultanas. Sweet but not over sweet. Miss K did pick out the pepitas though. Look forward to trying it out cold over summer with some yoghurt and fresh berries.
RRP $5.99 for 350g box (eight 45g sachets).

Maggie Stir Fry Creations

Thanks to Kidspot we got the opportunity to try two of the Maggi Stir Fry Creations. Interesting idea. Your packet is an infusion paste that you marinade your meat in and a finishing sauce. The Honey, Soy & Garlic was pretty tasty. All in all, pretty easy to use and pretty quick.

Wemo

The lovely people at Belkin sent me one of their (relatively) new WeMo Switch. Oh how I love this little product. So what is WeMo?

You have the WeMo app on your phone and you plug your device into the WeMo switch. Then you can switch your device on or off from pretty much anywhere. We weren’t too sure where we’d use it but have plugged in a lamp in the lounge room.
You can set up schedules – for example we’ve got our lamp to come on at 5pm. You can control your devices pretty much anywhere you have access to wifi or 3g (yet to try this bit ourselves though). I know we’ll be purchasing a few more, maybe even investing in a WeMo motion (it turns devices of your choice on or off as soon as movement is detected) and I really can’t wait til the WeMo light switch (currently only available in the US) arrives in Australia (October from what I’ve read).
WeMo Switch RRP $60 and available from Officeworks, Harvey Norman and Dick Smith (check your local store for availability)

Mother’s Day 2013

Disclaimer: I created and received 2 prints courtesy of PasterCandy. I’d share my poster but they are gifts 🙂 Unless noted, all wording and opinions are my own.

Mother’s Day is coming up soon (May 12 in Oz) and to help you out if you have a mother to buy for or just want to give you kids some ideas I’ve compiled a bit of a list. Hubby, if you are reading this – I’ll print this list and circle what I want 😉

For the Gardener

Digger’s Club membership
plants
gardening tools
Pre-pay for professional garden services e.g. gardening or lawnmowing

For the Scrapbooker

Project Life Mini albums
Project Life
scrapbooking tools – maybe something she’s had her eye on for awhile (like a Silhouette maybe)

For the tea/coffee drinker

Goodies from Rabbit Hole Tea or T2 or Art of Tea
A nice mug or cup & saucer
a delicious (maybe homemade) snack to go with their cuppa

For the geek mum

Beads from Think Geek
Soft Kitty anything (I have a hat & socks – want the hoody)
Doctor Who anything (or change Doctor Who for your Mum’s favourite show)
heck anything from Think Geek

For the tech mum

a tablet (iPad or Android or Windows equivalent)
cover for phone or tablet
iPod
portable speakers or new headphones

For the photographer mum

new camera equipment
photo printing vouchers
new SD cards

Other (only cause I couldn’t think of a suitable heading – yeah I’m lazy :p)

Pandora anything. I love the new beads (like this for example)
Scented soy candles
Dream Man Arm Pillow (?!)
a good book
an afternoon out
something handmade – by yourself or the kids
something handmade by a local artist (like the amazing ceramics by Kim Foale)

If you want something super special for your mum this Mother’s Day and you use Instagram I can recommend PosterCandy. They offer posters of your Instagram images. Sizes range from 30cm x 40cm (12, 20, 35 or 48 images) up to 70cm x 100cm (70, 117, 140 or 176 images) and prices range from $19.99 to $49.95) Currently they only ship to Australia and New Zealand. All posters fit into standard IKEA frames. If you don’t have an IKEA nearby (like us in Tasmania) you’ll have to shop around for a frame to fit. The quality is amazing too.

Creating your poster is easy. You select your poster size

The site then logins into your Instagram account (after asking for your permission) and you’re taken to the Poster Maker

From here you can change how many photos per print, print orientation, Background colour and how many posters you want to order. All your photos from your Instagram account are show in the middle and you just drag your photo to where you want it. There is also an option to create a totally random selection of your photos. You can also filter your photos by # tag. Once ordered, your poster can take between 3-5 days to arrive.

One lucky reader has the chance to win themselves a PosterCandy for their mum (or themselves).

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Hello Kitty!

No secret I’m a bit of a Hello Kitty fan and there is soooo much Hello Kitty merch out there. Some of it I’d never be caught dead with – like the Hello Kitty water dispenser. Or you can transform yourself into Hello Kitty, then you could always weigh yourself on some Hello Kitty bathroom scales. Hello Kitty walking stick anyone?

and then there’s the stranger….

(and if you can’t figure our what some of them are… a gun(!), a condom holder (um wtf?), a urinal target, a chainsaw, a corset (actually that’s kind of pretty), a vibrator Disappointed smile , contact lenses, sanitary products and finally a Hello Kitty house – the whole thing is totally Hello Kitty

Now we’ve seen some of the strange, how about the cute….

earrings, necklaces, rings, phone covers, doona covers and the multitude of soft toys

and to make you smell sweet – Hello Kitty Perfumed Body Mists (Bubblegum, Strawberries & Cream, Melon, Musk Sticks)

New to the Hello Kitty body mist scene is Vanilla Ice Cream (it’s the yellow bottle). I’m a huge fan of all things vanilla and remember buying lots of vanilla scented body sprays when I was younger. The Hello Kitty spray isn’t sickly sweet and leaves a nice lingering smell. Recommended retail price is $4.99

To win yourself a set of 2 Hello Kitty body mists leave a comment telling me your favourite scent and why?

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Terms:

Entry is open to Australian residents only.
This is a game of chance.
Winner will receive one Hello Kitty Vanilla Ice Cream body mist & one other Hello Kitty body mist.
Once contacted winner has 1 week to get back in contact or the winner will be redrawn
Good luck!

Fostering the love of books

Disclaimer – I received some Me Books books to try for free and I am part of the Me Books review team in Australia. All opinions and wording (unless noted) are my own.

I can’t remember the first book I read but I can remember always having hundreds of books around. One room of our house growing up had a wall of books – that room ended up being my bedroom, sadly minus the wall of bookshelves. Mum & Dad read to both my brother & I from a young age. Tilly and Tessa was apparently a favourite as was the Miffy books and the Mog books. My brother’s favourite was Grug. I remember reading Shakespeare when I was young – Midsummer Nights Dream is still a favourite of mine.

We’ve tried to install this love of books in Miss K. We’ve read to her since she was really little. Birthdays and Christmas are always a time to give new books. She’s inherited some of my books – big surprise Tilly & Tessa is one of those books (she loves it as much as I did) and we’ve downloaded some books for her on the iPad, mainly interactive ones but we’ve found she’s not as interested in them after the first or second read. When offered to take a look at the Me Books app, I jumped at the chance. Mainly because their library include favourites from my childhood – Ladybird books! I had a heap of these books when I was young, some which had been handed down from cousins and other family. Well read and well worn. And the Beatrix Potter collection. There’s also more modern reads based on favourite TV shows like Peppa Pig and Charlie & Lola.

Me Books offers children a great range of books that are interactive. Kids can read along; have the story read to them by well known personalities (like Sir David Jason, Rik Mayall and Richard E Grant); touch the pages for interactive sound effects; record the story themselves (or by a parent/grandparent/carer etc)

When you download the app from the App Store you’ll be given the following screen with your free book, Little Red Riding Hood.

To create a Me Books account, to access other books, click on the Shop button then click Account. Click Create Account, enter your email and a password and your done. When you create an account, you will also get the following three Me Books – Shopping with Mother, Talk about School and Sleeping Beauty.

So far Miss K has devoured them. Peppa Meets the Queen has been read and played numerous times, as has Talkabout starting school.

Me Books have also dropped the price of their The Land of Me book apps. They are now 99c each. “In this BAFTA nominated early learning adventure for 2 – 6 year olds, children encounter an enchanting cast of loveable characters. Join Eric the raccoon, Buddy Boo the bear and Willow the owl on an epic journey through your child’s imagination.”
I’d never heard of The Land of Me but after checking out their website I’ve decided they are very cute (and I think they should have plushies of the main characters – I would buy them all.)

The apps included in the super sale are:
The Land of Me – Shape, Size and Colour
The Land of Me – Making Things
The Land of Me – Songs and Rhymes

These have quickly become favourites too with The Land of Me – Songs & Rhymes on high rotation. And the good thing is, they aren’t annoying like some other apps aimed at kids.

The Me Books app is free to download, you get Little Red Riding Hood for free AND when you join the Me Books store you get another 3 books (Shopping with Mother, Talk about School and Sleeping Beauty) free as well. Books in the Me Books store range from 99c to $2.99 (most are $2.99). Books in the Modern section include Charlie & Lola and Peppa Pig. Classics include Beatrix Potter and lots of Ladybird Books.