Ravensburger James Rizzi 1000pc Puzzle Review

I have been very fortunate to become part of the Ravensburger Puzzle Club which means I get to actually sit down and complete a puzzle.

This is my first puzzle that I have been sent to review, when I sat down to begin, it felt very nostalgic, I can remember sitting with my nan as a young child, she always used to have a puzzle on the go, and when I went to visit, I would help her to fit the pieces.

This jigsaw is a 1000 piece puzzle by James Rizzi, depicting Times Square.

I have found there are two types of puzzle people, the random, put pieces together type - definitely my husband and the organised, split into outside and inner, which applies to me!!

The first thing I noticed was how well made the pieces are, they are very strong and not at all flimsy, meaning the puzzle fits together very easily, each piece is individual, so there is no mixing up where pieces go. I sorted all of the outer edge first and assembled that, the actual fitting together of the outer edge and the border was quite easy for this puzzle as there were distinct areas that could be grouped together.

Once this was achieved I then had to set to work on the people and the buildings!! Which wasn't as easy, the older children would walk past and find another piece that fitted, so it really was a joint effort.

The entire puzzle took us about four evenings, once the youngest children had gone to bed, I really enjoyed this bright, vibrant puzzle and I am looking forward to the next puzzle to review, I have definitley rekindled my love of jigsaw puzzles, so thank you Ravensburger xxx

 

Toyologist review - Monopoly Millionaire

Our third Toyologist review involves money ...
I have always loved playing Monopoly, when I was a child, a game of Monopoly would go on forever, in fact we used to play it in the evening and it would get left there until the next night because it would take so long to finish a game.
So I was very intrigued to give this version a go, the idea being the first player to a million wins, and each player will collect a minimum of £100,000 each time they pass go, meant that it would not continue forever....

To start the game, each player is given a certain amount of money, now this is the first improvement, the money is chunky and not flimsy pieces of paper that get blown off the table every time someone closes a door, so chunky that the little one took quite a liking to it and continually tried to chew it!!
As it is the first person to a million, there is no need for large amounts of each denomination, so they all fit rather nicely into the money holder, placed in the middle of the board, and no-one has to be the banker as it is easy to help yourself.
The playing pieces are so cool, you start off with a choice of scooter, paper aeroplane, toy car or a rowing boat and you can progress to two larger sized vehicles, but beware, you can also shrink back down to your little one as my very cool bike got demoted back to a tiny scooter.
You move around the board and it still has the traditional Go To Jail, actual jail and chance cards, but each property that you land on is either bought or put up for auction, which got very entertaining and competitive as the children kept upping the price, I ended up paying £25,000 for a property that was worth £5,000 but I HAD to have that property!

The children really enjoyed playing Millionaire Monopoly and Neva the 9 year old thought it was excellent because she won, although I had built up quite a good (if a little expensive) property collection, but that is not what this game is about, it is being shrewd and making a quick million.
A very entertaining and quick to learn game, which meant all of the children aged 9 and above were able to play by themselves, kaide aged 6 was on my team, although he loves maths, so was my own personal banker.
I would definitely recommend Millionaire Monopoly, especially for a family with older children, a great twist on the original game and a much quicker game to finish!!
 

I'm doing the Jenny Craig!

If you have been following my blog, you will know that earlier this year I made the decision to shift the baby weight, however the only thing that I did learn was that I was rubbish atdieting and exercising and I am too much of a junk food eater, so when I was given the opportunity to try the Jenny Craig plan, consisting of Breakfast, lunch dinner and snacks being delivered to my door I jumped at the chance!!

Two weeks ago a very large box arrived filled with lots of packets and dishes, a lovely folder and detailed instructions. I decided that I would begin the plan on Monday, I weighed myself Sunday night and weighed in at exactly 10 stone, now I know to a lot of people that is not heavy but for my 5ft 2" frame, I should be a lot less, my ideal weight would be 8 and a half stone ish.

 

 

 

I was assigned Alex as my personal consultant, who rang me at the alloted time Monday morning to discuss the plan and the diet food, to also check that I had received everything correctly, we discussed my goals and how to stick with the plan.

 

The one area I needed to work on was ensuring I had breakfast when I got up and not three hours later after the children had gone to school and I had a minute to sit down, as I was in fact starving my body, so this was noted, although I couldn't promise it would happen every day!!

 

My own personalised menu was sent to me, listing which jenny craig meal I should be having, along with extras I could add to it to make a more hearty meal.

The first thing that shocked me was how much I didn't eat throughout the day, well not proper food, more like high sugar and fat snacks!!

 

I can eat pretty much anything, although I am not a fan of Tuna, so that seemed to be the only meal I wasn't too keen on having, but they do provide you with an alternative which has been the most helpful document, knowing what quantities I should be aiming for each meal.

 

The meals are varied and on the whole very tasty, the only one I really did not like was the Pasta Bolognese, but other than that they have been very nice.

 

My cupboards and fridge are stocked with much healthier choices, which in turn meanthat the children are also opting for the fruit instead of a bag of crisps or a chocolate bar, so everyone's a winner.

 

After five days of folllowing the plan, I was amazed when stepping on the scales to find that I had actually lost 8lbs, so alreadya third of the way to my target, although I suspect this week will not be quite so dramatic, especially as I had kaides birthday which involved a meal out and birthday cake!!

 

Come back in a few days to find out this weeks verdict!!

 

Toyologist - Hex Bug Scarab Review by Hex Mum Mandi !

When we received the list of toys that we would be receiving in our first box as a Toys R Us Toyologist, this one made me chuckle!
Everytime the advert comes on the television, all of the children sing together, "Whats that coming over the hill is it a hex bug or a Hex Mum" so they were incredibly excited and noisy when opening....

This little Green bug is very realistic and as soon as I switched it on it was difficult to catch!
The crawling toddler wasn't too sure to start with and crawled in the opposite direction, the older children, however, thought it was great and began hatching plans to scare their insect phobia nan with the Scarab.
The way that it flips over is fascinating and I am sure the makers had great fun designing this.
We don't get many REAL bugs in our garden as our 20 chickens kind of keep them to themselves. At the moment our lead cockerel Ginny has been following Asa around the garden, in a stalker style fashion, so he decided to see what Ginny and Co thought of the Scarab, as any type of bug usually gets chased and eaten...

As you can see the big brave Cockerel isn't so brave now! I think Asa may be swiping this toy to keep in his pocket to deter his stalker.
Overall opinion: The Hex Bug Scarab is very fun to watch for a little while, although it does use batteries very quickly and the level of entertainment is good, but it doesn't do much else, other than scuttle around the floor and flips back over when you put it on its back, which is pretty cool, but play value is limited.
Although they have yet to test it on Nanny and Grandad in the Hex Mum residence.

Happy Birthday Kaide

Today Kaide celebrates his 7th birthday, I wrote about his birth last year, you can read about it here.

This year I thought that I would post some photos from his last seven years...

Our second little boy who we named Kaide Ronald Peter Morrison.

 

 

Our cheeky little monkey age one, who looks extremely like both Lochlan and Tyrus at this age.

 

 

Our little toddler who could always be found with some kind of food in his hand!

 

 



 

As you can see, at aged 3, he still has a good appetite!

 

 



 

 

Kaide is a very active little boy and loves any form of sport or physical activity, he never sits still.

 

 



 

Kaide is one of the oldest in his class at school, although one of the smallest in height! He loves school, especially maths.

 

 

Kaide loves being outdoors, he will often be found riding round on his scooter, no matter what the weather is like, but he also likes playing on the wii, although he still manages to jump up and down whilst playing.

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUDDY, WE LOVE YOU VERY MUCH XXXXXXX