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!

Live Clean Spa therapy with a Giveaway

Being that the kids are with their Dad on the weekend and I don't have much time for spoiling myself during the week I really like to live it up on the weekends.  Early nights, long baths, dinners out, sometimes some drinks and dancing of course but I am pretty low key.  A nice hot bubble bath, some lotion and a blanket on the couch with the fireplace on and a good show is a great night in my books.

When I received a nice big basket of the Live Clean Spa Therapy Line I was pretty excited.  The bubble bath, body scrub and body wash are my favorites although I don't dislike any of these products, I just use these ones the most.  The scent is so nice and subtle, not strong at all, it just smells clean.  The Live Clean Spa therapy line is made up of 98% plant derived ingredients and is free of phosphates, colors and dyes.  Good for you and good for the environment. 

This fabulous line is not sold at your local spa or high end grocery store.  Its available at your local Walmart and is just as good as if not better than the lines carried by your local spa.  One of you is going to be lucky enough to have a nice big package of this arrive on your doorstep! 

To Enter:

Tell me which product you would like to try the most

(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 set of Live Clean Spa Therapy @Funfunkymommy

***** Contest will end on November 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 you can't win! Contest open to Canada ONLY*****