Bzzagent Review - Kellogg's Crunchy Nut Cereal

This past Friday, (three days ago), I recieved a BzzKit containing Kellogg's Crunchy Nut cereal.  Well, the box is already gone, and I couldn't wait to post a blog about this very tasty cereal!  Below is my review:

Okay, so my family LOVES cereal.  As a mid-western family, we're dealing with the cold of winter right now, so a typical morning begins with a bowl of oatmeal; however, we LOVE to snack on cereal. And, when it's warmer outside, we typically have cereal for breakfast.  So, with all that being said, we were quite excited to be chosen for this campaign.
 

When the kit arrived, we were lucky enough to receive a big box of the Golden Honey Nut variety, along with four $.50 off coupons.  It just so happened that when the box arrived, my children were finishing breakfast, so we opened it right away. 

My daughter isn't a big fan of nuts, but she wanted to try some of the cereal.  I gave her a little bit in case she didn't like it - and she didn't like it - she LOVED it.  Immediately, she asked if she could have a bowl of cereal and milk with her remaining breakfast.  My son LOVES things with nuts.  So, I wasn't surprised that he also really enjoyed the cereal. I had a bowl (which may have been much larger than the serving size) and was quite surprised with how good the cereal tasted.  To me, it tasted just like honey roasted peanuts.  It really was quite good, and I may have poured myself a second bowl.

Two days after we received the box (we had spent the weekend out of town), I asked my hubby to try it as there was only enough in the box for one more serving. He is very picky and only has a couple cereals that he purchases and consumes regularly.  Even he was impressed.  Which says a lot.  He said that he would pack the remaining cereal to take to work with him. I may have given him 'the look' in response to him taking my remaining honey nut goodness.

He forgot to pack the cereal (which may or may not have to do with my reaction the night before), so I enjoyed the last of it today.

I do like the cereal in milk much more than on its own.  Don't get me wrong, I liked it dry, but if you eat each flake on its own, you don't get nuts in every bite.  If you eat it in milk or with a spoon, you definitely get a good amount of nuts in every bite.

The texture was good too.  Crunchy and holds up in milk.  The last bite wasn't crunchy, but it definitely wasn't soggy either.

The taste (as mentioned above) was pretty good.  Very nutty, and also tasted a lot like honey.  It was sweeter than what I normally enjoy, but to be honest, it didn't bother me. I thought it was great.
I would purchase this cereal again.  My only issue with it is the sugar content - there's 10 grams of sugar in every 3/4 cup serving.  Knowing that the sugar comes from honey and not added sugar makes me feel a little better, but for my children this is too much sugar for a school day.  I'll likely buy this again for them to enjoy on weekends or as a snack.
All in all - it's a real winner.  Quite tasty!

Bzzagent Review - Green Mountain Coffee Wellness Collection

A few weeks ago I was able to review the new Green Mountain Coffee Wellness Collection as part of a Bzzcampaign.  Below is a photo of the kit I received along with the review I completed.

Last week, I had the pleasure of receiving a 12 pack of K-cups from Green Mountain. I was surprised at how generous they were on the quantity of K-Cups as well as the amount of coupons. The day I received the cups, I decided to try the antioxidant blend. I am sort of picky about coffee. I don't really care for stronger roasts as they tend to taste bitter and almost ashtray-like to me, so I wasn't quite sure if I would like the coffee. I was surprised. The coffee was very smooth and not too strong. I added my favorite creamer and drank the cup in record time. It was very good. I couldn't taste any sort of additive, it just tasted like (really good) coffee. The next day, I had an important doctor's appointment which I knew I could receive some tough news. So, I decided to drink the Focus blend. I thought if there was anytime I needed to stay focused, this was it. Again, I really liked the coffee. It was also smooth, and not bitter. I did feel focused at the appointment. I was concerned that I would forget to tell the doctor one of the symptoms, but I didn't. I also left the appointment feeling like I remembered everything the doctor said. I'm scratching my head for something negative to say, but I just can't think of anything! I will be purchasing Green Mountain Coffee in the future. Thanks for a great product!

Bzzagent review - CoverGirl BlastFlipStick

As a Bzzagent, I had the opportunity to review CoverGirl BlastFlipSticks.  Below is my review along with a photo of the kit I received.

As part of this campaign, I received 3 Flipsticks. The Mink, which is a darker brown shade with a coppery shimmer. Stunner, which is a coral shade and a bronze shimmer. And finally, Vixen, which is a dark pink with a lighter pink shimmer. The bzzkit was generous - however, I wouldn't have picked any of the shades I received. Mink looked crazy on me - if I wiped some of the stick off, it may work. I didn't like how Stunner looked on me either, however, the colors reminded me of summer. Of all the sticks, I liked Vixen the best. I like the packaging of the Blastflipsticks. Their metallic looking in the middle, with two clear caps. I like that it makes it easy to see the colors. They were easy to open, and the caps 'snap' so that they won't come off in your purse. Also, the lids are designed so that if you turn the base of the lipstick, the sticks won't rise while the cap is on. This is a big plus as I've had many tips ruined by caps. The stick is easy to hold while applying. I like the feel of the lipstick. The non-shimmered end is very smooth and creamy. The shimmery ends aren't as smooth going on. It seems that the shimmer in each stick is different. For the stunner, it's almost glittery, but the others have a much more subtle shimmer. I also like that it is pigmented. Some of the colors didn't look quite right on me, but I could wipe some off my lips, and there would still be some sufficient stain. With the shimmered ends, if you wipe it off, it seems that the shimmery part comes off (if that makes any sense). The taste isn't bad either. I wore the lipstick all day, and didn't experience any feathering at all - this is another big plus for me. It's also long lasting if you're not eating/drinking. You definitely need to reapply after eating though. All in all I liked the Blastflipstick. I'll have to see what other shades they offer before I decide if I'd buy this - unfortunately, the price is kind of high, so that will influence my decision as well.

Thanksgiving - Homeschool Fun

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  We had a great week.  On Monday, we decided that we would do our last day of regular school before Thanksgiving.  Afterwards, I had them watch a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving while I made their lunch.  What did they have for lunch you ask?  This:

Yes, we had the menu from Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.  Except, they don't really like jellybeans, so I gave them Mike and Ikes instead.  I didn't tell them what they were having, and they were so cute when they made the connection.  I hope they remember this for a long time, it was fun (and delicious) for me.

More Free Stuff! Unreal Candy Review

As I mentioned on a previous post, I'm a Bzzagent.  Because of this, I get to try products for free.  My most recent campaign was for Unreal candy.

 My review is below:
I had the opportunity to try all five varieties of Unreal candy. It was difficult to find - the first Kroger I went to did not carry Unreal (I even went to customer service and they said they had never seen the product). The second Kroger I went to had them, but I had to ask customer service for help; they had to ask a manager to help me find the product. I had expected to find it in one of three places - 1) the candy row, 2) the natural foods section, or 3) the checkout. It was in none of those places, rather it was an end cap (which even as the manager was pointing to the product, I couldn't see it easily). I say all this to recommend that Unreal change how and where they display their product, I walked right past it and didn't notice it (while searching for it), I'm sure many other people have walked by without seeing the candy. I decided to try all five varieties since my store had all of them in stock. Below is my review on each product.

1 - Unreal 41 (candy coated chocolates). When I first picked up the package, I was surprised at how light it was compared to a bag of M&Ms. The serving size of Unreal is smaller than the serving size of M&Ms, so I feel that it would be very easy for someone to be misled by the nutritional content if they just compared the labels of the two candies without taking size into consideration. I do like the packaging, it's attractive. Upon opening the candy, I found that the colors of the actual candies were quite different from the colors on the wrapper. I was surprised by that. My kids (3 and 5) actually said they liked the colors of Unreal better than the colors of M&Ms (and I liked the source of the colors better!). The taste was very good. It was less sweet than M&Ms and tasted more like dark chocolate, which I really liked. My kids said they prefer Unreal to M&Ms.

2 - Unreal 8 - chocolate, nougat, peanuts, and caramel. This one was my favorite. It was so good. The salty and sweet were balanced very well. The nougat reminded me of a Mars bar, (which happens to be one of my favorites). The texture was fantastic. I have nothing negative whatsoever to say about this candy bar. All good!

 3 - Unreal 54 - candy covered chocolate with peanuts. These were very good too. Again, the colors on the packaging were much different than the actual colors. There was a good salty/sweet balance and the chocolate again was less sweet than what we've come to expect in candy. I actually prefer this level of sweetness. I did feel that the serving size was small. My children devoured them, so it could just be that they ate so quickly that I only got a couple.

4 - Unreal 5 - chocolate, nougat, and caramel. This one was also very good. The caramel is milky and soft, almost buttery. Very good. The nougat is a little denser than what I would have expected, but still delicious. This candy also tasted more like dark chocolate (again, as I would prefer).

5 - Unreal 77 - chocolate covered peanut butter cups. When I first opened them, I was surprised that there was no liner on the peanut butter cups (as I was expecting Reese). Now that I think about it, it's smart to not have the liners - less packaging = less waste. I also noticed the logo on the bottom of the peanut butter cup, I thought that was a nice touch. The actual cup was thinner than a Reese cup, and at first (before tasting), I was disappointed in this. Once I tasted the peanut butter cup, there was absolutely no disappointment! The candy tastes rich, almost like a buckeye. The peanut butter was smooth and tasted more like peanuts than Reese cups. The texture and balance of sweet and salt was perfect. I am now a fan of Unreal. I was shocked at how delicious the products are. This has (to date) been my favorite BzzCampaign! Before trying the candy, I thought, "why would they pick the name 'Unreal'? Since there's no artificial ingredients, shouldn't the name be 'Real'?". Then I tasted it, and one word came to mind: Unreal.

A Much Needed Change - Science Curriculum

Today was the smoothest day so far.  It went so well that we actually finished our school work before lunch (we normally have an hour or two to do after lunch). 

Yesterday went pretty well too - except, we started at 10:00 instead of 9:00.  Oh well.  My friend Emily brought us a ton of vegetables from her parents garden, so we ended yesterday with making zucchini bread (used this fantastic recipe but left out the walnuts since Lou isn't a fan).  That counts for math, right?!  The bread is almost gone - even my hubby ate some (and asked if I would make some more).  If you know how picky he is, that's saying a lot.

Today I was not looking forward to Science at all.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Science - it's been my favorite subject for as long as I can remember (except Chemistry.  I HATE Chemistry).  But, our first day of Science was rough.  We purchased Apologia's Astronomy book and the issue is that the book is for K-6th grade.  In order to make it though the book in one year, there's four or five pages of textbook reading per lesson.  Plus there's a journal and experiments.  I could tell on the first day that the book wasn't going to work for us.  At least not this year. 

I consulted with another homeschooling mom, and decided that I'm coming up with my own Science curriculum. We're going to study space, but in an easier, kindergarten appropriate way.  I want him to LOVE Science, not dread it.  So, I have a ton of small books about space, and we have a very extensive public library. We'll read two books about space per week.  My parents also gave me some of my favorite books from when I was a kid (Just Ask books by Weekly Reader).  So, today, we read "What is A Star?".   The kids LOVED it!  They know the order of heat intensity (blue is hottest, red is coolest), size classification (dwarf up to supergiant).  And learned so much more than they did using the textbook last week. 

We also made our own stars.  We each decided how hot we wanted our star to be (X-Man wanted the hottest - blue, and Little Lou wanted a star with mid-range heat - yellow).  Then, they decided which size (both wanted supergiant).  I helped them trace a circle on construction paper, they cut them out on their own (more fine motor work!).  Then on one side, X-Man wrote the name of his star, how hot it was, and the size.  On the front we swirled glitter glue to signify the gasses that swirl on each star.  It was amazing to me how much information they retained.

We're also going to spend time each week observing nature (Mason method) and using a notebook to sketch an observation.  I feel so much better about science now.  And less stressed.  So far, we pretty much love homeschool!

Homeschool - Two Days In

Thursday was our first day of homeschool; it went pretty well!  The day started with some french toast casserole that baked in our slow-cooker overnight.  School began with a prayer, pledge of allegiance, and calendar time.  Then we did a short history lesson - it came with a family tree that they filled out (I wrote Little Lou's for her) and colored.   As they were coloring, I did a short interview about their favorite things - I'm interested to see which items change at the end of the school year.

We also read a few pages in our science book.  It was obvious that I can't do science right after history again, too much reading for two little ones. We've changed the order of subjects - they'll also only do science two times a week (they'll do art some days instead).

Then we worked on a rhyme about the animals and which continents they live on (they got to run and jump so they were very excited about that!).  Next we had a short devotion and practiced our first memory verse (Matthew 19:14) - we have a CD which plays the verse in a song which has made it easy for me to memorize the verse (even Little Lou almost has it memorized!).

Next we had our first lesson.  At the beginning of each lesson (one new lesson per week), there is a DVD with a teacher explaining the new material - I LOVE this!  We did some practice with our cuisenaire rods and he did a worksheet  (he got every problem right - woohoo!).  I use a composition book as a math journal for Little Lou.  She practiced writing numbers 1-5 and then put that amount of stickers on each number.

Then, it was lunch time!  We also took a break before heading back to our classroom.

After lunch I had X-Man read a book on his own (he'll read a short book or one chapter out of a novel) while I worked on a phonics lesson with Little Lou.  After that, we did some handwriting - that was difficult.  X-Man has always had delays in fine and gross motor skills, so some things were very difficult for him.  He is also a perfectionist, so if his work doesn't look exactly as he would like it, he scribbles all over the page or cries (Mom, Dad, does this sound familiar?!).  He had a few meltdowns, so we cut the lesson short.  Day two was much better for handwriting - we actually were able to extend our lesson!  X-Man writes the letter 'F' like a champ now.

At the end of each day, all three of us read a book together.  Then we do a mini-book report.  I write the name of the book and author - then there's a place for both of them to note if they liked the book or not (X-Man has to write 'yes' or 'no' and Little Lou circles a happy or sad face).  We keep these on note cards attached to a binder ring.  This can help me keep track of which books we've already borrowed from the library and help me to determine which type of books they'll like going forward.

Then they get free time - I have a play kitchen and a few toys in our classroom they can play with.  They can also read books, or work on a maze/dot-to-dot book I made (printed free worksheets then put them in page protectors so they can use dry-erase markers on them over and over again).  They can also play with some sensory bottles I made, do tangrams, work on geoboards, flashcards, or artsy stuff.  We also listen to orchestral music (they can already recognize some of the parts from 'The Carnival of Animals') and I prepare our lessons for the next day.

After school, we got some frozen custard and then went to the pool - that's homeschool P.E., right?!  We ordered pizza for dinner - pretty much, the perfect day.

All in all, I think (two days in) that homeschooling is going to be a great fit for our family.  It's so nice to be able to customize each lesson to meet their needs.  It's also wonderful to get hugs and kisses all day from my sweethearts.  Yep, I'm a fan of homeschooling!