Real Moms Real Views

Shoot for the Stars Party! {American Girl McKenna Blu-ray DVD Review & Giveaway}

In honor of American Girl’s Blu-ray DVD release of McKenna Shoots for the Stars, and its Television Premiere on NBC July 14th (8/7c), we’re throwing a Shoot for the Stars Party!!

McKenna Brooks is the American Girl “2012 Girl of the year”.  She embodies the typical young girl who must find balance between school and the activities she loves.  McKenna is a superb gymnast, however, the struggle she faces with reading comprehension in her fourth grade class may stop her from participating.  As her grades slip, her teacher and parents require her to seek help from a tutor.  Used to being a strong young lady, she finds herself embarrassed and hiding the truth from her friends.  An accident at the gym ends up teaching McKenna some important lessons about friendship, priorities and allowing those around us to help when we need it.  American Girl brings home the gold with this girl empowering, wholesome movie.  My daughters and I give it 6 thumbs up!!  We’ve watched it multiple times already and were excited to share a screening with our party guests.

My oldest daughter’s birthday coincided with the release of McKenna Shoots for the Stars, so we threw a movie screening/star themed birthday party.  Our color scheme was based on McKenna’s gymnastic outfit in the movie; lavender, aqua and a hint of lime. Party planning is so much fun even when done on a small scale.  I love to look for small details, like the notched star shaped cookie cutter I used to cut watermelon as garnish on the side of our smoothie juice glasses.

Miss Maddy and Miss Sydney had so much fun filling the goodie bags with gymnastics pencils and color themed treats.  Each bag was hole punched and decorated with curling ribbon and shimmery cardboard stars.  Along with the small purple stars, I found some larger Aqua stars, and hung both from my dining room chandelier for some extra shine.  Our cake continued the theme with its purple and aqua tie dyed bow, and fondant cutouts.

Stretchy gymnastic leotard- like fabric acted as my table runner.  I folded it in half to give it a thicker appearance and then added some lavender ribbon to the edges.  To my delight all of the girls had a great time and LOVED the movie!  Inspired by the DVD, my girls and their guests headed outside to practice tricks on their gymnastics mats!

Twenty four years ago, I received Kirsten, my first American Girl Doll (then part of The Pleasant Company, with an offering of only 3 dolls!).  I spent many hours daydreaming over their gorgeous catalog and imagining myself in a different era.  Today, my girls are the ones being inspired.  Our collection includes 7 dolls now and many books.   As my girls have begun moving on from actually playing with the dolls, I love that they are still engaged through AG books and movies, like McKenna Shoots for the Stars.  I highly encourage any mom with girls aged 8-12 to check out this movie and other American Girl products like the fabulous “A smart girls guide to __”  book collection.  Both are confidence and character building tools for young gals…..and REAL MOM RECOMMENDED!!!

An American Girl:  McKenna Shoots For The Stars arrived on Blu-ray and DVD on July 3rd at American Girl Stores, Walmart or AG online.

Today, One Super LUCKY RMRV Reader will Win a copy of An American Girl:  McKenna Shoots for the Stars Blu-ray Combo Pack (with DVD Digital Copy)!!!

Want to Win?  Here’s how to enter:

Mandatory entry:

Tell us which American Girl is your favorite?  (Mine is still Kirsten :) )

Once the mandatory entry is complete, you can gain additional entries from the following:

3 entries-Add RMRV to Google+

3 entries:  ”like” American Girl on Facebook!

3 entries: “like” RMRV on Facebook!

2 entries: Follow RMRV on Twitter.

2 entries:  Enter another RMRV giveaway and let us know which one.

2 entries: Subscribe to RMRV emails.

1 entry per day: Tweet about this giveaway and make sure to leave us your tweet URL!

5 entries: Blog about this giveaway and leave us the link.

You have until July @24th @ 11:59 PM EDT to enter the giveaway. All giveaways are open to USA only.

Real Moms DIY: Making Cake Pops & Lovin’ My Tamron Lens!

Yes, I got ambitious and decided to go ALL OUT for my little one’s birthday.  You know they only turn 1 and 3 once! Hehe!  So I enlisted the help of my sisters and we went to work in the kitchen.

My yummy cake pops! Impressed???

They were easy to make and made such a fun colorful statement on the counter with our party theme!  Basically you use a box cake mix, bake, let cool, crumble and add in a can of frosting, then roll and chill in the fridge. Then the fun part-decorating.  Dip in chocolate and sprinkle with fun candies and coatings!  You must try them at your next party!

Here’s a step by step cake pops recipe if you want to try them yourself.

Another thing that I have been having fun with is my Tamron Lens.  I have loved having the opportunity to shoot with it.  I was able to take some fun pictures of the party and I have really loved getting to know the lens.  My hubby loves it too!  Especially when we are outdoors as he can zoom in on nature and our kids.  We get such great shots with every take.  I highly recommend you check out Tamron if you are in the market for a new lens. You won’t be disappointed. :)

Check out this lens:

Tamron 18-270mm all-in-one zoom lens, the world’s lightest, smallest 15x zoom optimized for use on APS-C- DSLRs, continues the pursuit of the ideal all-in one zoom lens. Combining prior award-winning achievements with new engineering breakthroughs yielded the remarkable 18-270mm F/3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD (Piezo Drive). Special piezoelectric technology now delivers faster, quieter precision autofocusing. Tamron’s exclusive tri-axial VC (Vibration Compensation) image stabilization, featuring three pairs of driving coils and low-function ball bearings placed around the VC optical group, combats camera shake-related image blur. It’s Tamron VC that allows handheld shooting at as many as four shutter speeds slower than otherwise possible with a dramatically stable viewfinder experience. Compactness and light weight are preserved, thanks in part to the VC mechanism’s newly-developed moving coil mechanism.

Defining compositional freedom the 18-270mm Di-II VC’s incredible 15x zoom range provides a 35mm picture angle equivalency of 28mm to 419mm, with image fidelity assured by advanced optical design featuring LD glass and aspherical optics, working in concert to render crisp, colorful and faithful images.

A 24% reduction in length and 18% reduction in weight

24% smaller

Time to Party! {Birthday Express Review}

We have two kids right now, and their birthday’s fall within 2 weeks of each other. While they are young we have been celebrating their Birthday’s jointly. I know when they get older we will have to separate them but for now this makes it so much easier on me. :)

Birthday Express generously sent them each their own choice of party pack to help us celebrate at their birthday party! My little guy choose Mickey Mouse of course and from the moment we picked it out on the computer, he intently waited everyday for the mailman to deliver it. My little girl had to have mommy pick hers out and I went with Princess, since she is my little princess.

Here’s what we decided on:

Birthday Princess Deluxe Party Pack

Your little girl will feel like a princess with this exclusive party pack. Includes 8 invitations, dinner plates, cups, forks, spoons, activity placemats, 16 napkins, solid-color tablecover, centerpiece, foil balloon, 18 balloons (3 colors), crepe paper rolls (3 colors), curling ribbon (3 colors), confetti and cake candles.

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Deluxe Pack

Little Mouseketeers will be as happy as can be with this Mickey Mouse party pack. Includes 8 invitations, dinner plates, cups, forks, spoons, activity placemats, 16 napkins, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse tablecover, centerpiece, foil balloon, 18 balloons (3 colors), crepe paper rolls (3 colors), curling ribbon (3 colors) and cake candles.

The day of the party we decorated and the kitchen area was filled with crepe paper and balloons in an assortment of colors. The kids loved it! It made their party a huge hit and their day extra special. Family joined us and we had cake and ice cream. It was a great time. Thanks Birthday Express!

Check out Birthday Express for Kids Birthday Party Supplies and Exclusive Party Themes for your next event, they come Real Mom Recommended!

This site receives free products and other forms of compensation for posting. See the Real Moms Real Views disclosure here.

Party Time! {Discount Party Supplies Review}

Each year I look so forward to my children’s birthdays. I love having family over to celebrate and doing everything I can to make my children feel extra special on their day. Unfortunately, I am not the best party planner. I get a million ideas, never know where to start, and once I set foot in a party store, I am immediately overwhelmed and frazzled. Discount Party Supplies simplifies party planning. With a great selection of all types of party supplies for all occasions, you never have to step foot into any party supply store and your next party will be a hit!! 

We have products at great prices to meet all your party planning needs! Come check out our fantastic selection of birthday, wedding, Halloween, bridal and baby shower party supplies!

Discount Party Supplies has a great selection of pre-made party packs, and a vast inventory of inexpensive party supplies. With a strong emphasis on fast delivery, excellent customer service and fun party products; at Discount Party Supplies, we are dedicated to making our customers’ celebrations a success.

~Discount Party Supplies

Toy Story Ultimate Party Pack Discount Party Supplies sent us the best set of party supplies for Hollis’ second birthday! I have been in denial about this upcoming birthday, as it is hard for me to believe that my baby is already turning two. With their help, I have faced reality and have put together a pretty cute little party for my sweet boy! He loves Toy Story, so I thought that would be a perfect theme for his party. With Toy Story plates, napkins, streamers, games, and so much more, the house was decorated and we were ready for the big day! Family all came over and we celebrated Hollis’ second birthday big time! He loved his decorations and was so excited when he saw the little green alien candle! We weren’t even able to use it because he wanted to play with it! Both of the kids love seeing Woody, Jesse, Buzz and the whole Toy Story Gang in the living room, we are going to leave the decorations up for a few extra days; maybe turn his birth’day’ into a birth’week’ and just keep on celebrating! Thanks Discount Party Supplies for helping make my boy’s birthday a blast!

I just had to include a few shots of the super cute decorations sent by Discount Party Supplies!

picnikcollage

Check out Discount Party Supplies for your next big bash, or head over to their Facebook page or follow their Twitter feed to keep up with all sorts of news and product information!

This site receives free products and other forms of compensation for posting. See the Real Moms Real Views disclosure here

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