The movie is based on a true story from the late 80s – a family of three whales trapped by ice in Alaska and the media blitz and huge rescue that ensues to save the family from death.  Sounds interesting but not like it would be floor-stopping, right?  It was incredible.  Drew Barrymore and Jon Krasinski star.

You can check out more about Big Miracle on the official website but seriously, if you have kids of an appropriate age, it’s a must see.  It comes out February 3rd.

(Regarding age – personally I’d say at least 5+ should be the age for this movie and that’s even if you have a 5 year old who finds nature interesting. It’s rated PG and there is some mild swearing.)

Finally, after what feels like a lifetime of waiting, we can get all 8 Harry Potter movies on DVD in the Harry Potter 8-Film Collection!  Right now they are selling it on Amazon for $48.99 (50% off the retail value of $98.92!)

Can’t wait to get this for my soon to be 8 year old as he’s very into Harry Potter right now.

My kids haven’t seen it yet but we’re excited to watch this latest installment where the characters go abroad in this fast-spaced James Bondesque movie.

Get the Cars 2 DVD & Blu-Ray Combo Pack on Amazon for $24.99 with free shipping. Order a qualifying Blu-ray disc and receive a $5 promotional credit toward the purchase of video content from Amazon Instant Video. The promotional credit will be applied to your Amazon.com account within two days after your order ships.

Also – get some fun Cars 2 related recipes by clicking here:

* CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED *

—————————————————————————————————————————-

I am thrilled to be working again with LeapFrog this holiday season to bring you some sneak peaks and great giveaways of LeapFrog’s latest releases. Today we’re starting with their hottest new item for the holidays: the LeapPad.

Just like you want an iPad, your kids are going to want to get their hands on a LeapPad. Even better, I have one to giveaway to one lucky MWS reader! Read on…

The LeapPad Explorer Learning Tablet is the newest all-in-one device from LeapFrog. You can play games, draw pictures, read books, hear stories, watch videos and even take your own pictures or movies! My boys have been fans of the Tag Readers and the Leapster Explorer, but the new LeapPad offers the best variety of activities. Here are just a few of the reasons you’ll love the LeapPad.

Variety. Numbers, letters, shapes, words, adding, subtracting, comparing, problem-solving, time, coloring, drawing, measuring, logic, reasoning, patterns, charts, phonics, geography, foreign languages. What can’t you learn on the LeapPad? With a library of over 100 games, ebooks, apps, videos and flashcards, the LeapPad provides an endless supply of learning opportunities.

Durable. LeapFrog makes stuff for kids, and they know how kids treat things. Keep teaching your kids to be careful, but know that the LeapPad comes with a sturdy, yet sleek, outer shell, a scratch resistant screen and 2 stylus pens (though you can use your finger too).

Compatible. One of the big complaints about LeapFrog products in the past is that they kept coming out with great products! Well, that wasn’t the problem as much (Apple seems to have survived this flaw), but that the games you’d buy for one game couldn’t transfer to the new device LeapFrog was coming out with. They heard the complaints and adjusted, and the new LeapPad is compatible with all the Leapster Explorer games – and vice versa. Already own Leapster Explorer games? They’ll work on the new LeapPad. And if you buy games of the LeapPad, you can load them on your Explorer too.

Adaptable. My oldest boys are close enough in age that we have few toys that are clearly for one child or the other, but they are not at the same level academically. With the LeapPad (and many of the the LeapFrog products), you can create different log-ins for each child and set the games for each child’s level. So both my boys can help WALL-E sort trash or explore the ocean floor with Dory on the Pixar Pals game, but can answer questions and do activities set to their specific level.

Snap & Record. While previous LeapFrog products had cameras as an add-on device, the LeapPad comes with a camera and a video recorder built-in. These are fun just by themselves, but add in a few apps like Story Studio which allows you to create your own story and record it or Photo Studio where a simple photo can be stamped or drawn on to create unique final products and the fun is endless. Parents can even share their kid’s creations via Facebook or email.

Follow. I think a lot of parents may not utilize LeapFrog’s Learning Path software, but I highly recommend it. You download it onto your computer and then whenever you plug in your child’s LeapPad to update it, download new games, etc, it will track your child’s progress. Learning Path can show you which activities your child spends the most time on and which they never play, which kinds of questions they get right and which they struggle with, which skills they are learning and which they need work on. I love that while my son is enjoying playing games, reading books and doing activities on the LeapPad, I can get an individual look at different academic skills he’s developing or struggling with.

What’s in the box?

LeapPad Explorer Learning Tablet (with 2GB Storage)

Built-in Camera & Video Recorder

Pet Writing App

Story Studio App*

Art Studio App*

Free App Download*

USB Cable

LeapFrog Connect CD & Quickstart Guide

Extra stylus with tether

2 App Center Download Cards (value of $40 total)

1-year limited warranty

*To download these apps you must install the LeapFrog Connect Application and complete registration.

LeapFrog also sent along two of their new games – Disney Pixar Pals and Pet Pals 2. Pixar Pals has games with the characters of WALL-E, Toy Story and Finding Nemo. My 5-year-old has been loving learning about recycling and the environment with WALL-E while my 3.5-year-old is more enamored with washing, feeding and caring for his pet dog on Pet Pals 2. He thinks he’s playing with a cute computerized puppy; I know he’s learning how to count, add and subtract.

The Less Than Great. I’ve always been impressed with LeapFrog’s products, but the LeapPad truly is my favorite to-date. The two things I’m less than thrilled about are  the battery life and the price of the game cartridges. The LeapPad requires 4 AA batteries and it eats through them pretty fast. You can purchase a separate AC adapter if you know you’ll be using it at home a lot, but since we always bring these in the car on long trips, the battery life can become an issue. As for buying additional content, most of the apps you can download about $5-$10, but the game cartridges are $24.99. My kids aren’t into true video games yet, so maybe this is cheap in comparison, but this was higher than I was hoping for.

The LeapPad retails for $99 and you can buy it individually at places like Amazon, but I recommend buying one of the bundles through LeapFrog.com. You’re going to want additional games and activities and the LeapFrog’s Store offers a number of different money-saving bundles to suit your needs – Reading & Writing, Reading & Math, Ultimate Boys Bundle, and bundles with $40 in app downloads. Definitely worth it.

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *

WIN! Here’s your chance to win a brand new LeapFrog LeapPad of your very own along with Disney Pixar Pals, Pet Pals 2 and $20 in download credits. To enter, tell us in a comment below what feature you’re looking forward to the most on the LeapPad. You can earn one additional entry for each of the following – leave a comment below to let us know you did: (1) follow LeapFrog on Facebook or (2)  Twitter, (3) tweet about the contest using the hashtag #LeapPad, (4) follow MWS on Facebook or (5) follow me on Twitter. Entries must be received by Saturday, November 5th, 11:59pm PST. One winner will be picked via random.org and notified via email. Sorry, no P.O. boxes. US residents only.

Giveaway:  One lucky Mommies with Style reader can win a copy of Spooky Buddies!  Just enter to win by commenting below.  One winner will be selected this Friday, October 28th. (Enter by end of day Oct 27th)

Also available, some free downloadable crafts and games related to Spooky Buddies like this card shown below (all the buddies have cards to cut out!)

As you’ll see from my rec, be warned that there are some harrowing moments with the Mom (obviously all turns out okay in the end but the little guys may not know that!) but otherwise this is an entertaining movie for sure.   There’s some fun Mom humor in it too so check it out.

You can get the Blu-Ray pack (which includes a Blu-Ray disc and DVD) for $22.99 on Amazon with free shipping.

Got a Regal Cinema near you?  Check out their Summer Movie Express that started just this week.  For the entire summer, they’ll be offering two kids movies twice a week at $1 a ticket.  The showings are at 10 am.

I’ve taken my kids to this in previous summers – it used to be free but they must have decided to start charging to offset costs.  Still $1 a piece is still a steal for the movies and I noticed they have some pretty recent movies set to show at our local theater like Megamind and Legend of the Guardians so I hope to take advantage!  To check out what’s playing when at your local Regal Cinema, visit the Regal Summer Movie Express page.

We saw Gnomeo & Juliet in-theater and loved it!  It’s a cute take on the traditional classic with Romeo and Juliet now being two star-crossed gnomes.

It releases tomorrow (May 24th) and is a great one to have for all of this summer road trips!  Get Gnomeo & Juliet on DVD fo $16.99.  You can pre-order it today on Amazon with free shipping.

I wasn’t sure what my kids would think of this given that Troy & Garbrielle were missing but they were still enthralled.  Ashley Tisdale returns as Sharpay and you can guess from the title and DVD cover that her character takes a trip to Manhattan and the story follows her on a New York City adventure.

Get the Blu-Ray & DVD Combo Pack of Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure for 50% off on Amazon for $19.99 with free shipping.

What do you think of the movie Bambi?  I saw a lot of negative reviews on Amazon of Moms not wanting to show it to their kids because of the early death of Bambi’s mother in the beginning of the movie.

It’s sad for sure but I don’t know how this is any different than Finding Nemo?  Disney definitely has some sadness in a lot of their movies.  Will you let your kids watch Bambi or is it too sad?

Get Bambi’s Diamond Edition on Amazon at the pre-order price of $24.99.  It will ship on March 1st.