Harry Potter Years 5-7 - Review

The ever-creative geniuses at Lego  have teamed up with the equally ever-creative geniuses at TT Games to bring the magical wizardry of Harry Potter straight to our consoles.

The Harry Potter Years 5-7 is the latest action adventure game which continues Harry's journey through the final three books of the mystical series that has left a generation of children and adults alike completely spellbound.

Your mission is to help Lego Harry through various worlds, both Muggle and Wizard, and embark on a journey of spellcasting, duelling and learning life's lessons as only Harry can.  

Your observational skills will be tested as you go, giving you the opportunity to earn Hogwart's House Crests.  If you are successful in finding all four sections within each level you will receive the ultimate award...  a Gold Lego Brick.  Collect all the Gold Lego Bricks for bonus content and special rewards.

Keep your eye out as you work through the levels for the character tokens which are hidden throughout the game.  Save them up and use them to purchase new characters, and with over 200 of them to unlock you certainly have your work cut out!

Practise your skills as you make your way along until you come face to face with He Who Must Not Be Named.  Can you defeat the evil Voldemort?  We were sent a game to try for ourselves.  

Our verdict is that the game is fun both for players and observers alike.  There is a great sense of humour tied together with the challenges that the it sets and the attention to detail and attractiveness of the game is fantastic.

Some of the tasks require certain challenges to be completed before you can progress, so some perseverance is required at times.  It does bring home the saying, "If at first you don't succeed, try and try again".  (If you have had enough of putting that saying into practise, they have very kindly advised on how to get yourself some cheats in their instruction booklet. Ssh! Don't tell them I told you!).

The children loved this game, finding it fun trying to crack the puzzles and looking out to complete their collections as they went.  Some of the screens were a little dark at times but the brightness is easily adjusted so it's not a big deal to rectify.  All in all, this was a resounding success in our house with the overwhelming majority stating that it was "So much fun!".

If you don't believe us, take a look for yourself...

(Is it so wrong to admit that I would love Lego to create a version of my family?  Then my life would be so complete!).

Harry Potter Years 5-7 is available from all good stockists in the following platforms: Wii, PSP, XBox 360, Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS and Gameplay for Windows. For more information on Harry Potter Years 5-7 click here. 


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"Free Skinny Me!" - Week 2

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I debated not bothering with this weeks "Free Skinny Me" update this morning.  I had prepared myself for a gain.  What I hadn't prepared myself for was how much of a gain I have had.

I have no excuse.  It is all my fault.  It turns out Haagen Dazs isn't fat free.  Neither is hot chocolate with whipped cream.  Who'd have thought it, eh?  Would any of you like to make a note of that for future reference?

Not only did I overeat the non-healthy stuff, I also failed to track anything at all.  This annoys me now because:

1) I am fatter than I was

and

2) I am paying for something I am not using properly.

Lb's and £'s.

Except I'm losing the £'s and gaining the Lb's when it really ought to be the other way around.

I logged onto the Weight Watchers tracker this morning to note my weight with a new determination to track and count every, single thing that jumps into my greedy mouth, when a message flashed up on the screen.  It stated something along the lines of Weight Watchers constantly doing their scientific studies and they have now realised that they can change the daily points allowance from the 29 point minimum to 28, 27 or even 26 points.  They said my daily points may have changed.

They did.

To 26.  

I immediately felt vindicated and promptly forgot my piggerish sessions with the ice cream tub and the lack of self control I possessed for the last week and blamed Weight Watchers for giving me the wrong points allowance.

Yes, it's all their fault. 

So now I have laid the blame firmly on their doorstep I can wipe the slate clean and start afresh.  Bigger, fatter, wobblier and kicking myself firmly for ending up heavier than I started and it's all my own Weight Watchers' fault.

I hope those of you joining the "Free Skinny Me" quest with me have had a better week.

Here is the damage in all its glory:


Week 2's result: Gained 4lbs

Current weight: 12st 10½lbs (178½lbs)

Mini goal:  To lose 19lbs by week 18

Goal weight:  8st 11lbs (123lbs)

Total to lose:  55½lbs

Total  lost to date: 0lbs  - gained 4lbs instead.

If you are trying to lose weight too why not join the quest to "Free Skinny Me!"?  You don't need to be following Weight Watchers to do so and your weigh in day doesn't have to be a Monday.  Just grab the button at the top of this post or in the right sidebar of this blog (the code to copy and paste on your blog is in the text box under the button) and put it on your blog, then come back each Monday to report each week's weigh in result.  You can also write a post on your own blog and leave a link back to it in the comments below so we can visit and leave a message of encouragement or support.  You can choose how much or little info to disclose.


You can follow my quest to "Free Skinny Me!" by subscribing to a full feed in your reader.  You can also chat with me throughout the week on Twitter  (click here or search for the handle "@largerfamily" and let me know if you are doing the quest so I can follow you back) and become a Facebook friend too.   Don't forget that we now have our very own Healthy Living board in our new LFL Family Forums.


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"Free Skinny Me" - Week 1

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The first week back on the Weight Watchers plan hasn't gone too badly at all.  I didn't actually begin my diet until last Wednesday, needing to get the shopping in (and to finish off the last of the ice cream in the freezer), but it went ok.

The thing I like about Weight Watchers is being able to save points through the day and still have a little of what I fancy.  I think everyone has their "nibbling time" where they develop a case of the munchies.  My time is normally in the evenings when the children are in bed.  In order to make sure I have some points left so I can still enjoy a treat or two I tend to stick to fruit and veg for breakfast and lunch and use as few points as possible.  I then have a normal meal in the evening and allow myself a pack of Snackajacks or (or even and) a couple of meringue nests with Greek yoghurt and grapes.

I didn't use all of my extra 49 weekly points this week but did dip into them.  Unfortunately the Weight Watchers tracker on their site won't save info that you enter for the previous day(s) even though the save button flashes.  This is a long time technical problem that I had the last time I was following the plan so I am disappointed it still hasn't been rectified.  I often don't track my evening snacks on the tracker until the following morning so it would be handy to be able to save this information.

I am still unable to take part in much activity at all so not able to exercise.  I am looking forward to dusting down the Wii again and resuming the Wii Active Sports challenges, and Caitlin can't wait for me to be able to compete against her on "Just Dance" (ooh, just noticed "Just Dance 3" is out!) .  I am looking for something else to add to my collection though as it can get a little repetitive doing the same things over and over.  I want something that will burn the fat but still be fun to do.  Can anyone recommend anything?

Anyway, my first week back on the plan has resulted in a small but effective one and a half pound loss so it's moving in the right direction.  I'd be lying if I said I wasn't hoping for the usual big(ger) weight drop that normally happens the first week but then again I am bearing in mind that that is due to water loss rather than fat.  I am hoping that I'm getting straight to the fat of things!

Here is my breakdown:

Starting Weight:  12st 8lbs (176lbs)

Week 1's result: Lost 1½lbs

Current weight: 12st 6½lbs (174½lbs)

Mini goal:  To lose 19lbs by week 18

Goal weight:  8st 11lbs (123lbs)

Total to lose:  53lbs

Total  lost to date: 1½lbs


If you are trying to lose weight too why not join the quest to "Free Skinny Me!"?  You don't need to be following Weight Watchers to do so and your weigh in day doesn't have to be a Monday.  Just grab the button at the top of this post or in the right sidebar of this blog (the code to copy and paste on your blog is in the text box under the button) and put it on your blog, then come back each Monday to report each week's weigh in result.  You can also write a post on your own blog and leave a link back to it in the comments below so we can visit and leave a message of encouragement or support.  You can choose how much or little info to disclose.

You can follow my quest to "Free Skinny Me!" by subscribing to a full feed in your reader.  You can also chat with me throughout the week on Twitter  (click here or search for the handle "@largerfamily" and let me know if you are doing the quest so I can follow you back) and become a Facebook friend too.   

Don't forget that our story on how and why we came to be parents of 11 children is available worldwide now.  Click for details on where you can buy your copy of "Larger Family Life", the book.



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Disney Universe - Review

Anyone who knows us will know that we all love Disney. Then again, who doesn't?  So when we were invited to try out Disney Universe on the Wii we were happy to oblige.

Disney Universe is a new offering in the world of action-adventure video games.  Your character will suit up in their Disney costume and then embark on a challenge, battling through various Disney worlds.  As you earn coins you can get more costumes so you (or your character) can dress up as your favourite Disney stars.  Can you get Minnie Mouse, Stitch, Nemo or any of the other 45 characters?  How many can you collect?  You'll also be rewarded for beating the baddies and levelling up by unlocking new areas.  What will you find there?

There are so many collectibles dotted around the place that a roomful of children shouting, "It's there!  It's there!!!!!!! There's another coin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  or, "Quick.... the ANIMAAAAAAL!!!!!!!!!" at whoever is trying to play the game doesn't make for a very peaceful afternoon.  It does, however, keep them busy and I'm impressed with how they can't miss a thing on the screen but fail to notice a pile of toys in the playroom need tidying because they didn't see them.  Still, that's a story for another day.

The kids took turns playing as we'd run out of batteries for the other Wii controllers (*tut*), but the game can be played by 1 - 4 people at once.  The winner in a multiplayer game is the person to have found the most stars and collected the greatest number of coins and challenge badges.

The game was fun in my opinion, but I thought I'd ask the children what they thought.  The general consensus was that it was "Great!" but Sid had to go one further.

"It wasn't bad and it wasn't good, it was FANTASTIC!"

So there you go.  You can get your FANTASTIC game of Disney Universe right now - available for Wii, Playstation 3, XBox 360 and PC/Mac.


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