I'm a full-time mummy

My 4 years old boy is a huge fan of Little Critter's books and of course the moment I saw the press release for this app, I have to have it! This gamepak app is an extension for the "The Trip Little Critter Reading Adventure" app. Without further ado, here goes my feedback...

* Title: The Trip Little Critter GamePak
* Price: $2.99
* Category: Games
* Released: Mar 19, 2013
* Version: 1.0.0
* Size: 29.9 MB
* Language: English
* Seller: Baker & Taylor, Inc. © 2013 Mercer Mayer, Silver Dolphin Books, Dancing Penguins LLC, J.R. Sansevere
* Rated: 4+
* Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 4.3 or later. This app is optimized for iPhone 5.

Description from the product page:

"Available simultaneously is The Trip – Little Critter GamePak, an extension of the Reading Adventure app. Divided into two sections, the GamePak includes five game themes including Dot-to-Dot, Mazes, Matching Pictures and Words and How Many?  In the Digistix section, over 175 digital stickers are available across five game themes inspiring the imagination and fostering creativity.  In two special beach and camp activities, Digistix stickers that are tapped, dragged and dropped into the scenes react differently depending on where they are placed, enabling kids to create a new adventure every time."

* There are 2 main games section you can choose to play in this app, the GamePak which includes five fun game themes with over 30 engaging activities featuring Little Critter or the Digistix which is a colorful, interactive animated stickers with fun sound effects can be used over and over again!

* I like the counting games in the 'How Many?' (under GamePak section) where you select the correct number of objects on the screen, something that I'm going through with my 4 years old boy now in our learning lessons.

* Among the favorite games in this GamePak is the sticker book in the 'Picture Poof' (under Digistix section) which you can see cute animated surprises as you place the stickers on the screen and 'Letters' which I can definitely use when I'm teaching my boy on objects which begins with the corresponding alphabet letters.

* In summary, this is a fun-filled and educational app which is a must for Little Critters' fans! Definitely must have!

You can purchase the "The Trip Little Critter GamePak" app from the iTunes App Store.

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with the promo code to redeem the application for free from iTunes Store in order to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine. And if you'd like to read my previous iPad Apps reviews, you can do so by reading this post of mine called "My iPad App Reviews"

Life as a full-time mummy is busy and chaotic, particularly in ensuring my home-schooling continues to be efficient and I am providing my kids with all of the things they need. However, there’s no harm in a bit of daydreaming from time to time, and I’ve recently been wondering what it would be like if we spent a year or so living in a different country, for example Oman! Although this may never become reality – and would certainly make a dent in the savings account – I decided to carry out a bit of research and also think about what families require in order to be happy in their country of choice. For me, Oman is like a dream land of Arabian Seas, hills rising into the sunset and beautiful white stone architecture – a place where adventures begin.

Visa Applications   
Let’s begin with the basics. Generally if you want to live for any length of time overseas you will require a visa. In Oman, it seems that it is advisable to search for a job and a company willing to sponsor you before moving out there, in order to obtain an employment visa. This also means that the company will fill out most of the paperwork, but it will be relatively tricky to change jobs once you arrive. Common industries include teaching, oil, construction and engineering, medicine and project management, so you do need to come with skills.

My first priority is my family and I would never consider moving anywhere without them. Family residence visas are available ensuring that we could all move together, meaning we wouldn’t have to spend any time apart during the moving process. Alternatively if my husband were to move first he could apply on our behalf.

Housing
Having a lovely home in Malaysia is very important to my family and this principle probably applies to most mums around the world. It is a place where memories are made and a secure property where we can all feel safe. Studies have revealed that Malaysia is an up-and-coming area for investment in property, so I would be reluctant to give up our place here. However, if we were to think about it, Oman has a range of properties available, but usually it is only possible to rent rather than buy. Employers tend to be responsible for finding accommodation, and if you prefer freedom of choice, moving overseas is not necessarily for you. It is not uncommon for housing needs to be accommodated on a compound where other expats live too, which probably would make the cultural adjustments easier. I think our happiness depends to a certain extent on living in a good area, travelling to work with ease and having enough space so that we are not on top of each other 24/7. 

Banking
Having easy access to a family savings account and available funds would be a primary concern for me – I want to invest money for our future stability. There are many internationally renowned banks in Oman, which allow standard facilities, plus global ATMS where cash can be withdrawn from accounts in your home country. This would make the lifestyle relatively easy in terms of accessibility to money, a primary concern when you have kids to consider!

Overall, quality of life with a family is dependent upon many factors, and I would definitely want to ensure that we would be happy not only in our work and home conditions but also our leisure time. Oman would have to provide plenty of activities and access to the countryside so that we could enjoy residency there.

We've been adopting a new timetable for our kiddos since last week where we wake up at 8am, get ready for breakfast by 8.30am and then reading time, or water pool activity time (or replaced with running or cycling at porch when my kiddos do not want to play water) then playroom activities, daytime bath, then preparation for lunch, then learning activities for half an hour then naptime at 2pm to 4pm then they wake up for tea break and another round of learning activities for half an hour and TV time for 1 hour and then dinner time, then rest for a while and go for evening bath followed by bonding time with grandma and/or daddy before heading for bed at 9.30pm.

I've also changed our kiddos breakfast to cereals (we buy Post cereals) and I've been making fruit juices and fruit smoothies for them to accompany their cereal breakfast.

This is one of the fruit smoothies I made last week:

Half a carrot + 1 apple + 1 mango blended nicely and served in their own sippy cups. Sometimes my 1.5 year old girl will finish hers, else I will end up finishing for her while my 4 years old boy will always finish his fruit juices/smoothies. I think this idea is great as I get to sneak in some veggies in the juice/smoothies and they don't notice anything.

I basically just blend whatever fruits we have on hand, but mostly we rotate between apples, pears, bananas, mangoes and carrots definitely.

Do you have any favorite/signature fruit juices/smoothies?