When in Rome Out Now on Blu-Ray and DVD

Out now on Blu-Ray is the fantastically frothy romantic comedy, "When in Rome," starring Fergie Ferg's own Josh Duhamel and the adorable Kristen Bell.

I recommend this one for any of you out there who love the romantic comedy genre. This one is wildly improbable and impossibly giddy, yet Kristen Bell and Josh Duhamel are so darn cute (and her wardrobe is so stylish) that you don't even care-- You're just along for the very enjoyable ride. It's a beach read of a movie.

Here's a synopsis:

An ambitious young New Yorker (Kristen Bell), disillusioned with romance, takes a whirlwind trip to Rome where she defiantly plucks magic coins from a fountain of love, inexplicably igniting the passion of those who threw them in: a sausage magnate (Danny DeVito), a street magician (John Heder), an adoring painter (Will Arnet) and a self-admiring model (Dax Shepard). But when a charming reporter (Josh Duhamel) pursues her with equal zest, how will she know if his love is the real thing?

The Blu-Ray edition includes:

• Alternate Opening and Ending
• Mischief From the Set Featurette
• Extended Scenes: Pain With The Suitors
• More Deleted Scenes
• Bloopers
• Deleted Scenes
• Music Videos: “Starstruckk” and “Stupid Love Letter”

"When in Rome" is available now on standard DVD ($15.49) and Blu-Ray ($20.49).

I've already watched this one and loaned it out to a girlfriend... What more do you need to know? ;)

I'm a Backyard Discovery Brand Ambassador!

A couple of months ago, Backyard Discovery contacted me and asked me to be a Backyard Discovery Brand Ambassador. What that meant, essentially, is that we would receive a Backyard Discovery Playset of our very own to try out and write about.

What you need to know about our family is that we have always, always wanted a playset and never, ever thought we'd have one.

*cue angels singing*

Behold the playset we received. Is it not AWESOME?!

It is called the Atlantis, it retails for $749, and it's available at the Backyard Discovery site and at Walmart (for just $599!). It includes a glider swing, two belt swings, a clubhouse, a slide, a ladder, a rock climbing wall, and a lower area for a shop/puppet theater/sandbox (we used pea gravel instead of sand for better drainage, and my son LOVES playing in the tiny pebbles with his trucks. And no sand all over him at the end of playing time! WOOT.).

Those are the specifics. But I think the pictures I've taken of the neighborhood kids playing on our new playset say a lot more about it than I ever could. Take a look...

One of my favorite things about this particular playset is that it's suitable for my 3-year-old son and four and two-year-old neighbors...

Yet my six-year-old daughter and our ten-year-old neighbor really enjoy playing on it as well. The glider is by far the most popular feature on our playset. The kids LOVE it.

The slide gets a lot of play as well.

The kids are still discovering other aspects of the playset. They are starting to learn to swing on their own (yay!) and both of them have begun braving the rock climbing wall- It took a few weeks for them to work up to that!

The playset, coupled with our Ariel sprinkler has made our backyard the most popular on the street! And with nine kids ten and under on our tiny street, that's no small feat!

Backyard Discovery has lots of different playset options that meet all kinds of family sizes, yard sizes, and budget sizes. You can look them all over here.

Stay tuned for more blogging (and vlogging!) about our Backyard Discovery experience- Thanks to our new playset, the kids have been spending more time outside than ever before, and that's just how I like it!

Disclosure: I received a Backyard Discovery playset and a party pack in exchange for acting as a brand ambassador and writing posts about our playset experience. As always, my opinions are 100% my own.

Activision's Shrek Forever After Video Game is a Hit in Our House

Right now, my kids are Shrek-obsessed, along with every other kid we know.

We've seen the movie. We've read the storybook. We're collecting the McDonalds toys.

And as you can imagine, I was a complete hero when Activision's Shrek Forever After Xbox game arrived in the mail for us to review.

My six-year-old daughter has played all of the Shrek video games repeatedly, so she was an old pro when this game arrived. She quickly figured out how to play it, even with her limited reading ability. That made it a great game for me! I don't enjoy having to sit by her side and read all of a game's on-screen instructions to her as she plays.

Another huge plus to the game is that more than one player can play. This factor really makes these games a family/social experience- Her three-year-old brother follows her around on-screen, her dad plays with her when he gets home from work, and our neighbors have had a ball playing as well. Having more than one player really keeps it from becoming a scary kid-focused-on-the-screen experience. Instead, she is working together with a family member or friend and they are interacting in real life as well as on the screen.

Punky also enjoys it because there is lots of exploring and puzzles (which she loves,) and not too much fighting (which she doesn't love). Players can choose between characters when they play, each of which have their own unique set of abilities, and she has had a lot of fun learning about the various characters' fighting techniques. Of course, her favorite is the fighting Fiona!

We began playing the Shrek Forever After video game before we saw the movie and it really enhanced the movie experience when we finally got around to seeing it. If you have kids who love Shrek and a Wii, Nintendo DS, Xbox 360 or Playstation 3, I highly recommend this video game. It is a lot of fun! It's available for $47.99 right now on Amazon.com.

Disclosure: I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Activision and received the items necessary to facilitate my review. In addition, Mom Central sent me a gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.