Merry Christmas to all and to all a Goodnight

Well here we are, chilling on the couch waiting and waiting and waiting some more.  Kristina has been on the fence about Santa for the last year or so, well exactly actually.  Her and her friends were discussing at school last year after Christmas.  Shes up in bed, wide awake, and we are dog tired.  She has to be really out though before we go into operation Santa or it will be us that blows it for her.

We are ready, everything is ready, just need to set it all up and then we can finally go to bed.  But enough about that, we are so excited and so are the kids.  This is the first year that Brandon actually gets it, he is so excited and has been talking about it for at least a month.  Singing Christmas carols, talking about Santa and just plain old being excited.  Kristina's excited to, for sure, but nothing like a 4 year old.

Well from our family to yours, many Merry Christmas mornings and have a great new year!!!!!  I will be back after some much needed family time, maybe next year ;)

Last minute gift ideas - HEXBUG

When we got this box of goodies in the mail Brandon was over the moon and we spend the whole day playing with them.  We got a box chock full of HEXBUG's and both of the kids have been playing with them non stop since.  They are a great stocking stuffer, the bugs are a lot of fun and you can get the big tracks for them to run around in and they can jump at each other and flip over.

They are even a lot of fun for me and I am not a big play on the floor kind of Mama, not all day at least.  We played on the floor all day, setting up the tracks, playing with the bugs, redoing the tracks so they were cooler and doing it all over again.  When Kristina got home from school she was over the moon, "I always wanted these" she loves them and I love that they can play them together even though they are 5 years apart.

There are so many different sets you can get, there are glow in the dark sets, habitats and battle bridges.  I love that when your kids really get into this you can get them more sets and just add onto your existing sets.  So cool and even Brandon was taking pieces off and adding new ones.

HEXBUG's are available in many stores for the Holidays and I am sure you can pick them up after the Holidays as well for some great Birthday gifts to have stashed away!  I know that both of my kids would like even more :)  Personally I just love the bugs, lots of fun!

We are down to crunch time folks

Well, we are 4 sleeps away, I can't believe how fast Christmas has come his year.  I know I know people say that all the time but this is the first year that it has snuck up on me this fast.  I guess its because we have so much going on right now.  Between working 30 hours a week, couponing, blogging and raising two kids and a small husband :) we have been crazy.  I am certainly not complaining but man oh man we are busy :)

I know that we are not alone though and that this is the life of so many.  Because so many of us Moms feel like this we all need to have an arsenal of great, simple, fast and easy recipes that we can whip up on a moments notice.  That's how I have been feeling on my days off, oh no its 4:30, Kris will be home soon and I still haven't taken anything out for dinner, what are we going to have. 

Baking too, holy cow, we do so much more baking this time of year and how so you fit it all in with the shopping, wrapping, visiting and everything else that has ended up on your to do list.  Well with only 4 more sleeps I have some great recipes to share with on behalf of Life Made Delicious!

How easy and delicious do these would be, and they double as a great gift!

Christmas Handprint Cookies

Ingredients:


1 pouch (496 g) Betty Crocker* Sugar Cookie Mix

1/2 cup (125 mL) butter or margarine, melted

1 egg

Food colouring

Method:


•Heat oven to 375°F (190°C) for shiny metal baking sheet or 350°F (180°C) for dark or non-stick baking sheet. Stir cookie mix, melted butter and egg in medium bowl until soft dough forms. Chill dough until firm.

•Depending on the size of the hand, take 3 tbsp (45 mL) to 1/4 cup (50 mL) of cookie dough and shape into ball. Place child's hand on ball and press down until handprint is taken. Using metal lifter, transfer to baking sheet.

•Bake 7 to 9 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Cool 1 minute; remove from baking sheet to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.

•Paint handprint with a mixture of 1 tsp (5 mL) water and 3-4 drops favourite food colouring.

Disclosure: I am part of the Life Made Delicious Blogger program and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own!

Jumpstart with a Giveaway

Jumpstart has been on Fun and Funky Mommy before, and they are here again because I love them!  For review they sent Brandon some new Wii games.  Brandon loves playing Wii but gets frustrated with lots of the games because they are meant for adults and older kids.  Jumpstart has a few games that are great for Brandon's age, almost 4. 

The first game we tried out was Crazy Karts and Brandon went crazy for it.  He loves other car racing games but gets frustrated quickly because there are to many different buttons to push and he just ends up stuck straight on a wall and can't do anything,  He picked up on what to do with the new Crazy Karts game right away and had so much fun with it.  He wanted to play it all day.

•Create the ultimate contender from over 250 combinations of high-speed karts and quirky drivers

•Speed through 12 thrilling tracks packed with tight corners, steep drops and crazy obstacles

•Become a Crazy Karts champion and earn codes to unlock special prizes at JumpStart.com

The other game we got to try out was Pet Rescue, he had fun with it but it was no competition with Crazy Karts.  It had much more learning aspects, which I loved, and Brandon didn't even notice lol.  I love that its worked in without the kids even realizing that they are learning.  He does play this game, for sure, and he does like it but nothing beats cars to an almost 4 year old :)

Join the JumpStart friends on an adventure designed for little hands and big imaginations! The first learning game for preschoolers ever offered on the Wii™, JumpStart Pet Rescue is packed with over 80 fun-filled lessons and activities designed for 3-6 year olds. As players explore a jungle, beach, neighborhood, town and pet land on a mission to rescue lost pets, they practice over 75 essential skills including pre-reading, memory, listening and more.

Along the way, kids can earn special virtual rewards, adopt and care for cuddly pets and design the perfect avatar. And, the JumpStart characters are on hand to guide kids every step of the way so that even the youngest players can finally enjoy the excitement of Wii™ gaming.

One of my lucky readers is going to win their choice of either Krazy Carts or Pet Rescue for the Wii!! 

To Enter:

Tell me what else is available through Jumpstart!

(This must be done for additional entries to count)

Additional Entries:

- add my Fun and Funky Mommy button to your blog (2 entries)

- follow me publicly (2 entries)

- subscribe to Fun and Funky Mommy

- like me on facebook (leave your first name and last initial so I can find you)

- blog about this giveaway with a link to me

- follow me on twitter @Funfunkymommy AND tweet about this giveaway for one entry (can RT daily for another entry)

***Feel free to Retweet this***

Win Krazy Carts or Pet Rescue for the Wii from Jumpstart @Funfunkymommy  http://tinyurl.com/7ndcp2m


***** Contest will end on December 30th at 8:00 PM. I will use Random.org to choose the winner. The winner will have 72 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. Make sure that your profile is set to public or that you include your email in your comments because if I can't get a hold of you can't win! Contest open to Canada and the USA*****

Happy Holidays from Disney Junior

We, and by we I mean Brandon, are so excited for Christmas.  Brandon talkes about Santa and Christmas everyday and of course Kristina, Kris and I are excited but man this is the first year Brandon has actually gotten it and its awsome.  I love when his eyes just light up and how magical it all to him.  Kids really do hold the magic of Christmas. 

Kristina is a bit less into it this year, I guess its the age.  Shes 9 now and still helped decorate and seems excited but just not as much as in past years.  Other than the advent calender the one big thing she is getting excited about these days is Christmas shows and movies.  She will even watch ones that are more geared towards little kids.  Christmas shows are Christmas shows and I love that we can all watch them together as a family!

Kris has about 6 Christmas movies on the PVR and I am sure more will be added.  Disney Junior has some great ones!   We missed the first 2, did any of you catch them?  How were they?  Here is the schedual

Snow Day Saturdays – Every Saturday from 9am-12pm

Jake & the Never Land Pirates – December 3rd


Stella and Sam – December 10th

Handy Manny – December 17th

Imagination Movers – December 24th

Be sure to help your little ones get into the Christmas spirit by watching these, I know we will definetly be watching the next two, at least PVR ing them :)  You can also check out these great e-cards on the Disney Junior site to make with your little ones!
 

Disclosure:  I’m part of the Disney Junior Mom program and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group.  The opinions on this blog are my own.

Burt's Bees with a Holiday Giveaway

I have been a fan of Burt's Bees for a while now, as I am sure you have noticed as they have been on the blog a few times!  They make a very affordable natural product line with a vast selection of products.  There are some that I can't live without.  In the Summer you won't find me without the after sun soother, love it! 

For review this time I was sent a few different products from Burt's Bees.  It was the Burt's Bees facial care set and it included replenishing lip balm, peach and willowbark deep pore scrub, and soap bark and chamomile cleansing cream.  I also got the eye cream and daily moisturizing cream from the sensitive skin line which I am loving.  The lip balm I have had before and love it, it moisturizes really well and doesn't feel all waxy like some do. 

I always wash my face in the shower in the morning and not at night, I know, bad for my skin but I am to tired at the end of the day :)  I have only used scrubs though so I wasn't a fan of the cleansing cream because it didn't really feel like it was all coming off and didn't leave that fresh clean after for me.  The scrub though is amazing and I use it everyday.  It leaves my skin feeling so clean and fresh. 

The sensitive skin line is awesome.  I have very sensitive skin so I love when companies come out with a line like this.  The eye cream was given to my MIL as I don't need eye cream, right?  ;)

The daily moisturizing cream though is my new daily cream.  It feels so nice on my skin, not greasy at all and doesn't cause any breakouts :)  The only thing I would change about it is that its a pump bottle and if you use a full pump you have way to much and its a waste.  I use about a half pump but it would be nice if the amount that came out was a lot less.  Nobody would need as much that comes out.

Burt's Bees has lots of gift packs for that hard to buy for person on your list and some great stocking stuffer ideas.  I know a little girl who will be getting some lip tints this year :)

One very lucky Canadian reader will win a $150 basket of goodies!!! 

To Enter:

Like Burt's Bees on Facebook

(This must be done for additional entries to count)

Additional Entries:

- add my Fun and Funky Mommy button to your blog (2 entries)

- follow me publicly (2 entries)

- subscribe to Fun and Funky Mommy

- like me on facebook (leave your first name and last initial so I can find you)

- blog about this giveaway with a link to me

- follow me on twitter @Funfunkymommy AND tweet about this giveaway for one entry (can RT daily for another entry)

***Feel free to Retweet this***

Win $150 worth of Burt's Bees @Funfunkymommy http://tinyurl.com/7vqcumg


***** Contest will end on December 20th at 8:00 PM. I will use Random.org to choose the winner. The winner will have 72 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. Make sure that your profile is set to public or that you include your email in your comments because if I can't get a hold of you can't win! Contest open to Canada ONLY*****

Equal sweetner at McDonalds #CBias @McD_Canada #EqualCanada

Brandon is a huge McDonald's fan, huge, just like any other almost 4 year old I guess.  Its yummy kid friendly food and a toy, usually an awesome toy that Brandon loves and I don't want to throw out right away :)  Even though Brandon and I usually just hit the drive through for an iced coffee and cinnamelt for me and cheeseburger with fries, juice and a toy for Brandon he does love to go inside when given the chance.

For a special treat I took Brandon to McDonald's on Friday and when we pulled into the parking lot he asked why we not go through drive though, in four year old speak.  I thought it would be a good way to spend an hour to go inside, have lunch and play for a while to burn off some energy.  He loved it.


Watching the kids play always motivates Brandon to eat faster and not lollygag.  He was so excited to get up there and play and I was remembering how when I took Kristina as a little girl there.  Brandon kicked off his boots and took off, I could have left and he would have been happy until dinner time.  Kristina on the other hand was so scared to go up high.  She was so scared of something, I still don't know what but she took a good year of going there to be able to go up on her own.



I gotta tell you, its a lot more fun for kids up there than for me, I am afraid of heights lol.

Our lunch was great as usual but once I finished my chicken burger I moved onto my cinnamelt, my favorite by far.  I chowed down, it was delicious as usual, but then when I was done I happened to look at the top of the box and noticed the best before sticker on the top.  I had noticed these before because they are right on top of the box, the date was for two days before.  So upon a closer look, maybe I was crazy, it did say served by November 30th at 12 something. 



At this point one of the employees came into the play area so I asked her over and showed it to her and asked if it was just miss tagged.  She figured it might be but wasn't in the kitchen today so told me to head up to the counter and ask them.  It had tasted fine so I figured it was just miss tagged and went up when Brandon was done eating.  I showed it to the cashier explaining the date and asked if it could have just been tagged incorrectly.  She didn't know so she asked the swing manager.

The swing manager asked me if I wanted my money back and I said that I just wanted to know if it had expired two days ago and she said yes, sorry it did.  So of course I said then yes I would like my money back.  I was just kind of stunned and asked if it would make me sick or anything and she said it would probably be fine and gave me my money back.  I understand that mistakes happen, to everyone, and all the time, but I had hoped for more of a reaction from her that I had just eaten something that had expired two days before hand.  I wouldn't have been to worried if it was a few hours but two days...

I also asked when I ordered if they had equal sweetener as an option and they didn't so I skipped the tea and just had a diet coke.  Check out Equal on Twitter and facebook.  All they had was sugar and another sweetener, it would definitely be nice to have another option available.  Also, the best thing about this restaurant, how clean the play are is, I love a clean play area or I don't go back and this one is soooo clean!  We love it!  Follow McDonald's Canada on Twitter here!

This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. #CBias

Loose Button giveaway

I love getting mail, I get review items and coupons and samples with coupons in the mail all time time, even the kids love checking the mail.  If you don't review things or coupon to get samples etc the mail may be kind of boring for you.  If you want to liven it up a bit you need to check out Loose Button!

At Loose Button, our mission is to help customers discover, try and purchase quality beauty products through a unique shopping experience. Our team comprises of talented individuals who bring a diverse set of experiences from the fashion, publishing, retail, social media and technology industries. We are passionate about creating great experiences, and have been recently featured on Flare , Globe & Mail and National Post for our work.

Our service, Luxe Box, is an exciting and new subscription service that allows members to try beauty products in the comfort of their own home before buying them full-sized. Members receive 4-5 hand-picked deluxe sized products in a chic box every month, delivered to an address of their choice. Members also get exclusive access to beauty tips and tutorials that teach them how to make the most out of their products.

I got the November Loose Button Box for review and its awesome, Kristina and I are still fighting over who gets what.  The only thing I won't use is the loose tea, I am only a red rose tea kind of drinker.  So I gave it to Kris's Aunt who loves loose tea and she loved it.  She didn't even know what kind it was, tried it out and loved it.  Now Teaopia probably has a new customer :)  That's how it works!

You get to try out new products, with sample sizes so that you can see if you like them before you go out and buy the entire bag or package.  I love all of the makeup it came with.  There was some great sparkle eye liner from Lise Watier, some lip treats by Mereadesso, two perfumes by Paco Rabanne, one for me and one for Kris, as well as the tea and some Benifit Cosmetics facial cream!

This Canada only giveaway will be a quick one so that you can get your address in in time for the December Loose Button box!

To Enter:

Go to Loose Button and tell me one of the brands that they work with that I havn't mentioned here

(This must be done for additional entries to count)

Additional Entries:

- like Loose Button on Facebook

 - add my Fun and Funky Mommy button to your blog (2 entries)

- follow me publicly (2 entries)

- subscribe to Fun and Funky Mommy

- like me on facebook (leave your first name and last initial so I can find you)

- blog about this giveaway with a link to me

- follow me on twitter @Funfunkymommy AND tweet about this giveaway for one entry (can RT daily for another entry)

***Feel free to Retweet this***

Win a box from Loose Button filled with sample sized goodies from top name companies @Funfunkymommy http://tinyurl.com/7rv4wpz


***** Contest will end on December 10th at 8:00 PM. I will use Random.org to choose the winner. The winner will have 72 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. Make sure that your profile is set to public or that you include your email in your comments because if I can't get a hold of you can't win! Contest open to Canada ONLY*****

Brother labelers make my OCD self very happy - AND a Giveaway

When my girlfriend was hounding me about how she got me the best Christmas present of all time, to bad when I showed her the awesome label maker I got to review from Brother Canada I ruined her idea :)

She knows me well and knows how OCD I am and how I could literally label everything in my house!  With couponing lately I have started a bit of a stockpile, some are starting to call me a hoarder ;)  Rumors are going around that you won't be able to stack coupons soon so I want to get as much as I can, that I will use before it expires, and my pile is starting to get to an ok size. 

I ended up picking up some bins to store smaller things in and so of course I wanted to label them so that I wouldn't have to pull them all down to see what was inside of them.  The label maker that I received is the PT-1100SBVP and its amazing.  Not only does it print out words, it even has 72 built in symbols to make your labels just a little bit more fun.  Check out my label for my medicines :)

The Brother label makes are one of the best brands out there.  That is the brand that my girlfriend was going to buy me.  They are very well known with great quality and priced products.  I am loving my Brother labeler and so is Kristina, she wants to label all of her stuff, I hope shes not as OCD as me :)

One very lucky Canadian reader is going to win a Brother PT-1100SBVP labeler just like I got!

To Enter:

Go to Brother and tell me what other product of theirs you would like to have!

(This must be done for additional entries to count)

Additional Entries:

- add my Fun and Funky Mommy button to your blog (2 entries)

- follow me publicly (2 entries)

- subscribe to Fun and Funky Mommy

- like me on facebook (leave your first name and last initial so I can find you)

- blog about this giveaway with a link to me

- follow me on twitter @Funfunkymommy AND tweet about this giveaway for one entry (can RT daily for another entry)

***Feel free to Retweet this***

Win a scrap booking label maker from Brother @Funfunkymommy http://tinyurl.com/ctacjo6


***** Contest will end on December 15th at 8:00 PM. I will use Random.org to choose the winner. The winner will have 72 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. Make sure that your profile is set to public or that you include your email in your comments because if I can't get a hold of you can't win! Contest open to Canada ONLY*****

Dyson rocks it out again!

I have loved my Dyson DC24 since I first turned it on and vacuumed a strip of my old nasty carpet.  Once I saw what it could pick up a day after I had vacuumed with my old vacuum was the last time I have used any other vacuum.  I am hooked, what can I say.

I did have a bit if a scare yesterday though.  My Dyson lost suction, it wasn't picking up anything and was making a funny noise.  It sounded clogged and I could feel down one of the hoses that there was stuff stuck in there.  I was pretty sure they would warranty it but sometimes warranty's sound all great until you actually need them and then they really suck.  Not the case with Dyson at all. 

I had never registered my vacuum, not an issue, talked to a real person in less than a minute.  He was so kind to me and helpful!  He had talked me through taking the hoses off and unclogging them in under 15 mins and it was good to go.  I was soooooooo happy that I didn't have to send it away and wait the 7-10 days to have it back, which is very fast, but nobody wants to be without a vacuum.  I even noticed that one of the hoses was showing some wear while I was taking them out and he is shipping me a new one out right now. 

I was 100% in love with Dyson before and now I am even more in love with them even though I didn't even know I could be!  I love when a company really stands behind their products!!!  I am sure this is one cleaning device that any woman would be happy to get for the Holidays!!!

PS- this post was not in any way sponsored or asked for but I just wanted to share my great experience with all of you!