Merry Christmas to all and to all a Goodnight!

Well twas the night before Christmas when all though my house all was quiet.  The kids are out, I am sitting beside my beautiful tree reflecting and so thankful.  This last year has brought on a lot of changes for my little family but for the better for sure.  I am happier than I have been in a long time.  Tomorrow will have its challenges with being without the kids for a while when they are with their Dad but because of my family I will be just fine.

Speaking of my family, wow, they have been so unbelievable good to us.  I love them so much and am so appreciative of everything they do for us and love that we live only a few minutes away.  The kids can't get enough of their Grandparents and Uncle, and for that I am thankful!

So Merry Christmas from my family to yours, enjoy!!

Printcopia

One of my favorite Holiday gift to give is something personal, and you can't get much more personal than a photo.  Whether its a family photo or a photo of you and your mom when you were little or maybe a picture of you are your best friend!  I know that I would prefer a personal gift to a box of chocolates or something but its hard for everyone to do.

I have a great canvas wrapped up under my tree right now for a special someone.  I can't wait for her to see it.  The quality of the canvas print I received from Printcopia was awesome!  I love that there were so many different options available.  You could wrap the sides with more of the picture or you can mirror the image on the sides and more.  I love that there are more ways to personalize something that starts out so personal!!

The shipping from Printcopia was unbelievably fast and it came wrapped up so nice.  There was no way it was getting damaged on the way to me.  Lots of bubble wrap and cardboard, but no Styrofoam which I love because Styrofoam is horrible.

Because Printocopia was so great to work with I wanted to tell you about some of their other great sites that they have.  Their sister companies sell vinyl banners, car magnets, and lawn signs!!

This is it for me until January, time to spend the most time I can with my babies before Christmas is all over!  Have an amazing holiday Season!!!

Posterjack for the Holidays!

Well with not long to get those last minute gifts ordered online, yup online, lets take a quiz before I finish that thought.  How many people ordered gifts online this year?  I bet a lot of you.  There are no stats available yet but I know that it gets higher and higher every year.  I cant say to much about this super special gift that I got a certain special someone this year but I feel like its the gift of the season.

I was super impressed with how fast Posterjack shipped out, it came in no time at all.  The shipping dates for the Holidays is on their site, here's a quick link to it.  Basically you have until the 14th for framed photos, and the 16th for posters, fine art prints, and peel and stick posters. 

I got a frameless mounted print for someone :) and seriously cant wait for her to open it.  Or him ;)  I also love that you can get Metal prints!  How cool would that be, I would love to get one of those, very modern and funky!

So the ordering process was very easy and clear on what to do.  You basically just choose what you want to order, upload your photo, make sure it looks how you want it, choose any add ons and then order.  You can do it on your lunch break no problem.  Make sure you follow Posterjack on Facebook because they have been having some great giveaways going on! 

If you want to get someone, especially the hard to shop for person something really special for the Holidays this is a great solution.  You can even do a gift certificate to Posterjack in case you don't know what they would like or what picture to use. 

Making memories has been my moto for the last 6 months or so and this is just a way to document and show off those memories :)  Here is a gorgeous pic of my babies just for fun :)

Velata - fondue pot

We love a good fondue.  The kids and I love to get some fresh strawberries, bananas and sometimes some grapes and dip them in chocolate until we are so full we can't even think about having any more.  We usually just grab melting chocolate at the grocery store but that's now a thing of the past.  First though bit about the Velata warmer!

Velata warmers are a unique fondue warming system that uses a 25watt light bulb to melt the chocolate in the specially designed silicone dish.  The silicone dishes can be placed in the freezer, microwave and the dishwasher for an easy clean which makes it all the better!  No mess!  Family night will be a cinch with our new Velata fondue pots!  Check out the gorgeous colors they come in!!

Richly decadent caramel milk chocolate. Classically creamy milk chocolate. Sweet, delicate white chocolate. Bold and balanced dark chocolate. Melt the chocolate in its convenient package, twist open the spout, and pour it into your Velata Fondue Warmer. Chocolate fondue has never been simpler.  I love that you can pick up a few bags of Belgian chocolate to throw in the cupboard for later.  It tastes 100 times better than the store bought plasticy melting chocolate!

 

Not to mention that you can throw the bag of chocolate in the microwave to speed up the melting of the chocolate instead of waiting for a tea light to melt the chocolate in the old fondue we have.  Give me a reason why the Velata isn't better than the old school fondue pot!!

Grace Adele

Who is done with their Christmas shopping?  I am still not done but getting getting things crossed off my list!  My girlfriend just had her birthday last week and was she ever excited when she came over last night for her present.  Kristina may have been more excited to give her the gift but my girlfriend was pretty excited to get it.  It was a Grace Adele purse, this one below, but in a beautiful red color!  Who doesn't need a red purse!

If you need a gift for that hard to shop for lady here is a great idea!  A purse or clutch or wallet is something every lady out there uses and would love to get as a gift.  I know I got a new wallet last Fall for my birthday and would already love a new one and its only been just over a year :)  Maybe it has something to do with the fact that my ex bought it :)

I also love to switch out my purses.  A nice chocolate brown for the Fall or Winter and a bright orange purse for the Spring and Summer!  Clutches for a nice night on the town, New Years is coming!  One of the things that I love about Grace Adele is the accessories you can get to go with your bag.  There are adorable clips you can add on, there are clutches that fit right into the front pocket of your purse, bows, scarves and even more.  You can have the same purse year round if you want and still switch up the looks easy as pie!

You can check here to see if you have a rep in your local area and have a party!  They are a lot of fun and of course you can earn some free goodies!

Scentsy Buddy

Well who is done their Christmas shopping?  I am usually done my list a few weeks ago but this year I am further behind and not anywhere near done.  I am ahead of the game on the things to do list though, that I find usually stresses me out more than the things to buy list.  The years that my shopping was done early I still found myself shopping right up until Christmas but with working more now I wanted my to do list to be more under control.  I usually end up stressed about how we are going to fit in time to go see Santa, to write him a letter, decorate and make a gingerbread house and lots and lots of cookies.  Nothing wrong with getting these things done early and so much pressure is off now that I have done most of that list :)

So if you are like me and still looking for that special something be sure to put Scentsy on the list of things to check out!  I have reviewed the flamless candles before and they are amazing and I love them.  This time however Kristina got the review item.  It was a Scentsy Buddy and she loved it.  Its basically a stuffed animal that has an zippered pocket at the back for a scent pouch.  Kids can be very soothed by certain scents, like lavender or something familiar. 

There are lots of different scents to choose from, you can check them out here.  We got the pig animal and Kristina is big on sleeping with it and having piggy make her bed smell nice.  You can also use the scent pack, or the buddy itself to help the smell in your locker, gym bag or bedroom :)

Check them out and let me know what you think!

Limeapple with a Giveaway

We have been Limeapple fans for a few years now.  One of my favorite locally owned kids stores in town carries Limeapple and Kristina has always had at least one hoodie in her closet at any given time, sometimes more than one if she got lucky.  Limeapple sells some gorgeous kids clothes and not just dance wear.  They have a line of great dance wear don't get me wrong, it lasts, its cute and affordable but that's not all that they offer.

Our clothing stands out in a crowd because of its delicious color palette and signature design elements. We take extra steps in the design details such as longer length in tops, little pockets for ipods and thumb holes with longer cuffs. For maximum comfort all garments have flat seaming, gussets, taping around neck and on back of zippers, locking zippers and reverse stitch lining. All garments are pre-shrunk to ensure perfect fit and durability.

Created in Canada, Limeapple apparel can be found in fine department stores and boutiques around the world.

Whats not to love!  The designs are gorgeous and they are made with amazing quality, meant to last!  Kristina got a few hoodies to try out and they are awesome, I love how long they are, they will last so much longer that way, shes very long bodied, and they are so soft.  The designs are so funky I would wear a lot of them.  Limeapple has made some huge changes lately though, they have started selling online.  They used to only sell in boutiques and such but now you can all online at limeapple.ca

They have a great discount for you all to use as well as a giveaway!!  Use code 20LIME for 20% off anything at limeapple.ca and enter here to win any one thing from Limeapple.ca!!! 

To Enter:

Go to Limeapple and tell me what you would choose if you win

(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 your choice of anything from Limeapple @Funfunkymommy http://tinyurl.com/aaaojmu

***** 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*****

Card Swap with a Giveaway

More and more for the Holidays people are buying gift cards for each other.  Its getting harder and harder to shop for a lot of people and gift cards are a great solution.  They are also great for people who live far away.  Why do you want to buy someone something for $30 and then spend $20 to ship it.  Why not send them a $40 gift card and you are both up.  Not to mention how much faster it will get to them.  There is some trouble though with gift cards.  What if you buy a gift card for what you think is their favorite store and really they would never shop at.  A restaurant that your grandmother thinks you love but really its not in your town or even within 8 hours of your town. 

Well what do you do then with your gift card  when you don't want it or can't use it?  Well you can regift it to someone else or you can try and sell it on craigslist, good luck with that though as I am sure people think that's all sorts of sketchy wondering if there is even a balance on it.  I know I wouldn't buy a gift card from a stranger on craigslist even though I buy all sorts of other things on their.

Enter the solution...Cardswap.ca

If you have gift cards sitting around collecting dust that you are not going to use you can sell them to Cardswap.ca for cold hard cash.  I had a gift card for a movie theatre sitting in my wallet for over a year.  The movie theatre isn't even in my town, its over 1 1/2 hours away and I realized that I was never really going to use it.  So what I did was punch into Cardswap.ca how much it was worth and where it was for and it gave me my amount.  Once I mailed it in they verified the amount on the card and sent me my cheque.  It took less than two weeks from the time I mailed it to the time I could cash my cheque.  Love it and will do it again :)

The other side of Cardswap.ca is obviously buying gift cards.  Now how awesome is it that you can buy gift cards as well as earn points to get more gift cards for free.  On Facebook you can follow Cardswap.ca for special promos and giveaways, they happen all the time.  As well when you purchase any gift card from Cardswap.ca you earn points and can very quickly get free gift cards!  Its really an awesome situation all around!

Now Cardswap.ca very generously offered up a $25 gift card, of your choice, to one very lucky winner

To Enter:

Go to Card Swap and tell me which gift card you would choose and how many points you can get for purchasing it!

(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 $25 gift card of your choice from Cardswap.ca @Funfunkymommy http://tinyurl.com/a4hjhrv


***** 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*****

December winners

January 17th 2012

I am late on drawing some winners :(  so sorry folks!!

The winner of the Card Swap $25 is comment number 126

126. Emma said...

https://twitter.com/benitozk/status/281128512159625216
benjifiliso@hotmail.com
Tuesday, December 18, 2012 12:08:00 PM
  The winner of any one item from Limeapple is comment number 75   75. Glogirl said...

Daily Tweet:
http://twitter.com/glogirl3/status/280749273941958656
ajmizen@hotmail.com

Monday, December 17, 2012 11:00:00 AM     December 17th 2012

The winner of the Maplelea doll of their choice is comment number 63

63. Amy said...

daily tweet
https://twitter.com/amym_brown/status/276433033337393152
amymbrown at gmail.com

Dec 2012

Wednesday, December 05, 2012 1:09:00 PM
The winner of the Live Clean Spa Therapy pack is comment number 226

26. Rebby said...
Tweeted https://twitter.com/RebTheCatSitter/status/27146491156406272
rebthecatsitter at gmail dot com
Wednesday, November 21, 2012 8:08:00 PM

Disney Junior for the Holidays

We are so beyond excited for Christmas around here, we are into the advent calendar, reading Christmas stories, watching Christmas shoes and more.  We are Christmas crazy and I love it, Christmas has to be my favorite holiday and I am making my kids love it as much as I do.  With how fast this month flies by I am pretty happy with where I am at with my list.  We have the decorating all done, the shopping is almost done, I have the gingerbread house ready to decorate and the night of the Christmas concert off. 

Something I still need to do is take some time, I need to figure out the quick way, to program my PVR with all of the great Christmas shows that will be on over the next few weeks.  Then when I need a minute or two to spare to get something done I have it and when I want to curl up on the couch and have some snuggles.  Thats what the Holidays are all about anyways! 

Here is the schedual for whats on this month on Disney Junior!

Jake and the Never Land Pirates will be setting sail on brand-new adventures this month with new episodes on Saturday, December 1, 8, 15 and 22 at 10:30am ET.

Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas will premiere Saturday, December 1 AND Mickey’s Twice Upon a Christmas will premiere Saturday, December 8, both at 11:00am ET.

The Santa Buddies movie will premiere Saturday, December 15 at 11am ET.

Make sure to set your PVR and cozy up!  Also you can always find some fun on a cold day on disneyjunior.ca  There are some great games as well as some Holiday eCards that you can send to family and friends.  We did them last year and it was a lot of fun, this year though they have added even more designs.

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!

The Healthy Shopper Fall Picks

I don't know if you remember or not when I reviewed the Spring picks from The Healthy Shopper but I was blown away then just as I am this time.  The Healthy Shopper has a coupon book filled with coupons for some healthy, natural and organic products.  As a couponer I can tell you just how hard it is to find coupons for anything that isn't processed and prepackaged.  There are some coupons for somewhat healthy things but never really any coupons for organic, natural and healthy real foods.

Randy Boyer and Andrea Donsky have selected products to encourage Canadians to make healthier choices.  For fall, they have chosen products from the salad dressings and sauces category because these products often contain high amounts of sodium and preservatives.  They have again highlighted the only 100% organic feminine hygiene brand because they really want women know about this safe, organic alternative for their bodies.  And, their last choice is a selection of natural cleaning products because, as we know, the majority of cleaning products available in supermarkets often contain high levels of toxins that are just plain bad for the environment and our health. As the ladies say, “healthy products are no longer hard to find, we just have to read the labels.”  

Some of the great products that I was sent for review are from these 4 lines.  These are the winning lines.  Natracare, San-J, Ecover, and Simply Natural.

The Natracare is an all natural line of feminine hygeine products.  I have starting collecting pads for when they are needed in the next few years as I don't use them myself.  For the sake of a good review though I did try them out and they were nice.  Soft and comfortable and best of all there are no chemicals down there, which I would think is one of the last places we would want chemicals!



San-J has a great line of asia cooking sauces that are wheat free.  My Mom is off of wheat and its really hard to find sauces for stir frys and such that dont' contain wheat!  Soya Sauce, don't even get me started on soya sauce.  Who knew how hard it would be to find soya sauce without wheat in it.  Well thank goodness for San-J!  Check out some of the great recipies on The Healthy Shopper!

Ecover was another great thing that The Healthy Shopper picked as a top pick!  They are cleaners, dish soaps and laundry soaps.  I got the pomagante dishwashing soap, its awsome.  I use my dishwasher for 98% of my dishes but I need dish soap for the odd thing as well as hand washing and cleaning out the sink :)  Its great, no chemicals all over your dishes and hands and its smelled great, best of all, something I find hard to find in a natural dish soap, bubbled up great and really could cut the grease.  There was also some zero laundry soap.  It worked great although the only thing I would change is I would make it in a tab instead of a powder, I am not a fan of a powder, its just messy :)



The last set of things that we tried was some Simply Natural salad dressings.  They have a huge selection of them and they are all organic which I love. 

Vinaigrette with Sun Dried Tomatoes

Balsamic Vinaigrette
Roasted Garlic Vinaigrette
Italian with Roasted Peppers Dressing
Creamy Caesar Dressing
Honey Mustard Dressing
Sesame Ginger Dressing
Raspberry Vinaigrette
Goddess Dressing
Ranch Dressing
Roasted Red Pepper Vinaigrette

I am not into trying crazy sounding things I am more of a simple basic kind of girl and so our favorite so far is the Ranch dressing :)  I love though that they are affordable and healthy, much better for you than the chemical filled variety!  Make sure you check out The Healthy Shopper and order a coupon book, you can't go wrong with that!

Joy to Share with the Children's Miracle Network

If you have been checking in around Facebook lately I would think you would have seen the hundreds of Kinder Eggs that are being given away everyday!  I really hope that if you weren't before you are now following Kinder Canada on Facebook!  750 every single weekday until December 7th so the next day is Monday December 3rd to Friday December 7th.  That's 5 chances to win a free package of the Kinder mini eggs which contain a delicious milky hazelnut centre!  I have tried them and oh my they are so delish!!

Have you watched the Martin Family story on the Kinder Canada Facebook page? Please "share" it with your friends and family to help encourage donations to the Children's Miracle Network. For every share of the video, Kinder will donate $1 to the Children’s Miracle Network, up to $5,000. There are so many great stories to be read, read them all but make sure to read and share the Martin Family story for the donation :)
Sharing and giving is something that we try to instill in our kids all year long although it seems to come out a lot more during the Holidays.  Kristina is almost at the age where I could take her to a soup kitchen kind of place to do some volunteering this year.  I don't know how we are going to fit it in with how much I am working now but I would really like to get her out there.  We talk lots about giving and how its more important to give and how much better it feels but really getting out there just makes that conversation go that much farther!

While you are on the Kinder Facebook page you can even just read the comments people are leaving about what a great program the Children's Miracle Network is and how it has affected them and their families.  It really does touch so many people and we can help, all of us can!

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

Green and Black's Organic chocolate

Well I have to admit I am a huge chocolate lover.  Huge!  I may even be eating chocolate right now as I type this :)  I just finished stuffing the kids Advent calendars with some chocolate, we made our own Advents this year.  Our stockings always have some chocolate in them, and an orange, and some more chocolate.  I have some delicious Green and Black's organic bars for some stockings this year and some are being enjoyed already. Mint may be my personal favorite!

I am also picking up some more bars for some gift baskets that I am doing up this year.  I can't tell you to much though because its Christmas after all and I don't want to ruin any surprises :)

If you are picking up some chocolate for yourself or to share keep this in mind.

At Green & Black’s, we make and sell premium organic chocolate. We use fine organic ingredients that are ethically sourced. This perfect balance between taste and principles is what we stand for and why we pay a premium for all our organic ingredients.

At Green & Black's our aim is to create great tasting chocolate. We believe that every step from bean to bar is equally important - whether it's sourcing and using the finest organically grown cocoa beans or taking that extra time and care to bring out the distinct flavour that has become our trademark. These principles apply to all our other product ranges including ice cream, made with the very same chocolate as our bars & fresh organic cream, and biscuits, coated in our bittersweet dark chocolate.


Be sure to try it, its heavenly and delicious.  You can never go wrong with giving the gift of chocolate :)  Be sure to follow them on Facebook for all the latest deals and happenings!

Maplelea Dolls with a Giveaway

Kristina has been into dolls forever always has been always will be.  She had talked about getting a Maplelea doll last year so I was pretty pumped to get one for her to review this year.  I was so pumped when it arrived, but when I decided to be super sly one night and give her a bunch of ideas on what she could ask for for Christmas she wasn't into Maplelea dolls anymore.  I was so bummed.  I guess shes just more into cuddle friends than actual dolls now. 

I sure made a lot of friends quickly though when I put the call out to my facebook friends on who wanted to review Jenna a Maplelea doll for me.  I had comments from cousins and friends within minutes and this was at like 11:00 at night.  Jenna went on a nice ride and is now wrapped up for an adorable little soon to be 4 year old who will love her forever.

Maplelea Dolls are very similar at a distance to the American version of this doll.  They are an 18" soft bodied doll with eyes that open and close, posable arms and legs, and nice soft hair.  They each come with a journal that is filled with facts about your new friend as well as many blank pages for you to fill in with stories about your journeys together.

There are 6 original Maplelea dolls all together to choose from, Jenna, Alexi, Brianne, Leonie, Saila, and Taryn.  They are all very different, and all have a story.  Meet Jenna.  When Jenna is on the go (which is always!) she likes to wear clothes that won't hold her back. She can go anywhere in this three colour t-shirt with Maplelea logo and comfortable fleece pants. Socks and funky blue sneakers make her feet move fast. Her red hair is held in two long ponytails with coordinating hair elastics.

They also each have their own story about where they came from, there hobbies and more.  You can really get to know your doll and choose a doll based on weather or not you want them to be just like you or weather you want someone who looks like you or if you are lucky both.  You can choose a doll who comes from the same part of the country as you, they are all of course from Canada and all have amazing qualities about them.  I would be happy to have any of these dolls as my daughters friend :)

Maplelea was generous enough to offer one of the classic Maplelea girl dolls to one of my readers just in time for Christmas! 

To Enter:

Go to the Maplelea Doll site and tell me which doll you would choose and why.

(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 your choice of Maplelea doll @Funfunkymommy http://tinyurl.com/c5gtznm


***** 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*****

Stuffed Mushroom Caps, tis the season

Every year since the kids were little we have a night to do our Christmas decorating and we like to invite the grandparents over and make a night of it with appies and eggnog.  You can't decorate a Christmas tree without eggnog.  Because things have changed so much for the kids this year and we are making new traditions I still want to keep some of the old ones even if they are tweaked a bit.  I am a huge Christmas fan and always had to beg to set up the tree and decorate the house for the beginning of December.  Now we did it when we wanted.  I may be making the kids Christmas crazy but who cares, its Christmas.

November 19th was a long enough wait for us so we decided to invite my parents over and do appies and decorate the tree.  The rest of the house may have already been done :)  My mom is on a wheat free diet, which I am used to with my ex but haven't been doing lately of course.  So I set to work making my menu.  The kids were really into it and I loved it, we made some great memories that night! 

My menu got a little out of control because there are so many appies that we love and so before you know it you are making way to much food.  Some things like crackers, cheese and garlic coil sausage scream Christmas and even my Dad said after having one now it feels like the Holidays!  I also made some homemade potato skins, 7 layer dip, broccoli salad, stuffed mushroom caps, some homemade potato chips and dip and scallops wrapped in bacon.  I think there might have been more but that's all I remember :)

The favorite of the night though, well of Kristina and I's, was the stuffed mushroom caps.  I am a huge fan of stuffed mushroom caps but hate to order them in restaurants when I know that I can make them in about 10 minutes at home and they are just as good if not better because I get to choose everything that goes into it. 

So here is what I did.  I used a package of herb and garlic cream cheese, added some minced garlic, Parmesan cheese and grated cheddar cheese and mixed.  I took the stems out of the mushrooms and stuffed them with this mix.  Then I added more grated cheese on top and cooked them at 350 for 12 minutes.  They were so good, and not to bad for you, compared to the bacon wrapped scallops ;)   There are plenty of other great recipes for appies on Life Made Delicious that you should check out!  This is what I am thinking about making for Christmas morning, with bacon though of course.

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!!

HEXBUG

Brandon has asked for some things for Christmas this year that I just don't know anything about.  This is my first go around with a boy and some things are just so different.  He has asked for things that just seem disgusting to me.  Bugs, edible body parts, blood and guts, and these things are for a 4 year old.  Frankly I am fine with it, its all very age appropriate, its just not the things I am used to buying.  I love shopping for clothes, dolls, hair accessories and earrings.  Its just weird to head to the store for some brains and a side of bugs.

We were able to review some HEXBUGs last year around this time and although they stayed at Brandon's Dads house he played with them for a long time.  The bugs bouncing around and running all over the house.  I remember the first time he turned them all on, you can't just turn one on, you have to turn on all of them ;) and he was just laughing so hard, it was awesome. 



The only thing that I thought could have been better was that the bugs ran on tracks, they were easy enough to put together but it wasn't something you could just grab off of the shelf and play with, you had to set it up and then of course it took up a lot of room.  This year we got to try out the HEXBUG Nano Hive Habitat and its amazing.  It folds up to a small piece that fits right on the shelf but when its open, two buttons that you push down, its a big area for the bugs to run around.

The HEXBUGs have and upstairs that they can get to by a nice ramp, its pretty fun to each put a bug in and see who's goes up the ramp first.  There are also some pieces you put in that make the bugs go in circles or up and down a tiny ramp.  You can also add it to other play sets by opening the sides and attaching ramps etc.  A great toy that Brandon plays with all the time.  Definitely a top toy for boys this year!!  At only $30 you can even take the credit for this one if you don't want to give it to Santa ;)

Some of the great HEXBUGs are up for nomination at the People Play Awards, check it out and feel free to vote for some favorites while you are there!!  Voting ends on the 30th so check it out, also some great ideas there for the Holidays :)

Alphabet photography

The kids and I have been in our place for almost 6 months now and I still have bits and pieces that still need tweaking in regards to decorating. Just when I think I am happy with how a certain wall or area looks I find something new that will make it look better and end up rearranging and making it better. I honestly think I will be doing that forever though.

Alphabet photography is a really different sort of artwork. They use things that you would see in your everyday life and may not even take a second glance at. They use the photographs of these items as letters. A tree can look like a t and a close up of a pineapple tree can look like the letter v.

Another really cool thing that alphabet photography uses is people that are doing all sorts of acrobatic moves to make themselves look like letters. It's really neat and looks so cool.

I got prints done that say "family" and another that says "love". I love them, they hang just inside my entrance way. People always ask about them because they are so unique. There is not much out there that is similar. I love these prints and they mean a lot to me. The love print especially. The saying on it just hits home for me.  These were mounted on wood and would make an excellent Christmas gift for someone special, they are only $34.99 and available at Alphabet Photography's website!

Build a Bear - always a hit

Kristina has to be the biggest Build a Bear fan out there. She has over 10 Build a Bears already, is asking for more for Christmas and could easily love another 20. Sadly the closest Build a Bear to us is over 2 hours and a ferry ride away so we don't get there as often as we would like, if you can imagine considering how many she has.

Lucky for Kristina she has an uncle who lives about 10 minutes for a Build a Bear and he understands her love for them. She has built up a great collection of clothes for her bears and accessories for them. If you can think it Build a Bear probably makes it. The kids, Brandon has one as well, have cell phones for their bears and backpacks, hair accessories, underwear, pjs, and more.

Build a bear has come out with a great line up for this upcoming holiday season. From a new collection of furry friends with sweetly scented accessories and unique stocking stuffers, to classic Christmas characters and gifts that give back, Build-A-Bear Workshop offers personalized furry friends for all!  Kristina was pretty lucky, on her 10th birthday, the actual day of her birthday we got a package from Build a Bear. 

We went to pick it up, she had no idea what it was, and when I said that it was for her and that she could open it she was all excited.  She ripped into it and may have screamed, really loud, when she opened it and saw that it was a new Build a Bear (the one in pink.)  She has slept with her new "Snowy" ever since, just don't tell her friends, I don't know if that's cool still ;)

Brandon may have one coming under the tree and of course I can't forget about Kristina, they will be loving me Christmas morning :)  Are your kids on the Build a Bear train?  Check out the rest of their great new "bears" for the holidays!

Sofia the First: Once Upon A Princess

My kids just came home tonight from a weekend with their Dad and they were exhausted and very needy and snugly.  That's how they usually come home ;)  They basically need me to sit right down on the couch, snuggle them until bedtime and listen to them tell me every detail of their weekend.  The good, the bad and every little detail that they think is important.  I don't have time to do up a big dinner so its usually something very simple because they usually come to my work right when I get off for the night. 

I can't wait for the premier of Sofia the First: Once Upon a Princess because its on a Saturday night, November 24th at 7pm and although the kids will be with their dad its the first thing we will do on our snuggle couch on Sunday night!  I may secretly hope that my life starts out with moving into a castle like Sofia :)

Sofia's royal adventure begins as she prepares to move into the castle with her mom, starting a new family with her step-father, King Roland II, and step-siblings, Amber and James. Sofia soon discovers that looking like a princess isn't all that difficult, but displaying honesty, loyalty, courage, compassion, independence and grace is what makes one truly royal… some great life lessons for your kids and even yourself.

This will make for some great conversations with even my 10 year old.  Its aimed at the younger crowd but I know Kristina will watch it and it will open up some doors of conversation and anything that does that is welcome in my books!

Watch for Sofia to be making a regular appearance on Disney Junior in 2013 and be sure to listen for the answer to a certain question so that you can enter to win a Sofia book prize pack!  You can enter here and the link will go live as soon as Sofia airs :)

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.

Cypher Kids

There is a fabulous new app and card set available for iPod touches, iPads and iPhones!  Basically what Cypher Kids is, is a set of cards and a free download on itunes to make the magic happen.  Once you have purchased your cards, available at Walmarts all across Canada.  You download your free app, depending on which cards you purchased.  There are letters, numbers, or wild animals to choose from.  Basically there are a few different things you can do with this but the most basic place to start is to flip the card you want to use over and hold your iDevice over the special marker on the back of the card, its quite big and very easy for the camera to pick up. 

Once the camera has picked up what card you are looking at it will show up right on your screen.   It really comes to life right there!   It will move around and then talk to you.  The letter cards for example will tell you how the letter sounds, show you different words that start with that letter as well as show you the difference of the upper and lower case form of each letter.  Brandon really loved it once we figured out how to work it.  Its very easy to use and its fun.. I love how even though its a lot of fun its really teaching your little ones so many things and a lot of them while they don't even know it. 

The animal set is Brandon's favorite right now.  He loves seeing all of the animals and learning about them.  I love that its wild animals not the basic animals that kids learn when they are one or two like cat, dog, bird, the animals that they see all the time.  They are also not just basic monkeys either, they are a specific type of monkey, frog and Brandon's personal favorite shark.  Its nice to see them learning all of the things that go along with them, not just that sharks are big and have sharp teeth.

Be sure to be on the lookout for #CypherKidsClub on your next trip into Walmart, they make a great stocking stuffer or gift for the Holidays!!  You can also follow them on Twitter and Facebook

I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and Cypher Kids Club #CBias #SocialFabric and all opinions are as always my own!