Updated Thanksgiving Tree

  I wrote about the Thanksgiving Tree awhile back, my son was making and had said I would post the updated tree once all the leaves were up. Well after a few days of doing it, he decided it wasn't fun anymore and stopped. I tried to encourage him to keep it up but he just didn't find it fun anymore. Typical 5 year old ;) Anyway, here is his finished tree:

 And here are the things Thankful for, that he listed:
Mama & Daddy
Toys
                                       
Food


Stop Signs
Hot Cocoa


Home

Personalized Message From Santa At The Portable North Pole

   Want another fun and exciting way to keep the Christmas spirit alive for Santa and your kids? The Portable North Pole (PNP) offers several products ranging from a personalized video or phone call from Santa, an interactive letter, stickers, door hangers, nice list certificate, books, puzzles, place mats, and more! Everything is sold at decent prices with 5% of the proceeds going towards the Children's Hospital Program. They also have a standard video for free that you can personalize for your children. You can the free video and other products to purchase at their online store.

    I was given the chance to experience the Portable North Pole with 'the Personalized Premium Video package, which features exclusive video sequences, a personalized Christmas carol with your child or children’s names, photos of your children and a several surprises from Santa and his helpers!' As well as a personalized Phone Call from Santa. Santa has a very important greeting and he will pick up the phone and call directly to deliver his personalized message, which runs about two minutes. Personalized messages can include a night-before-Christmas salutation or even a gentle warning to stay off the naughty list!'

    I went ahead and personalized the premium video for my son, while he was at school, so when he came home, I could act as if Santa had left him a message in my email. He was so excited to hear Santa had left him a message, because just last week, he had sent Santa a letter in the mail and kept wondering if Santa had received it or not. When my son watched the video, his eyes were wide with excitement and holiday spirit :) He loved that Santa called him by name (Even though Santa had a slight accent ;) because they didn't have my son's name pronunciation) And he loved that he could pick his name out of Santa's books on the bookshelf. My son was excited that Santa knew he is 5 and in Kindergarten. The personalization of the video makes it so much more meaningful. This video from Santa really made my son's day...leaving him saying "I didn't know Santa would do that! I didn't know he'd make me a video!" it has put him in the Christmas spirit all day..He made himself a Christmasy lunch while watching Christmas movies, and singing the Jingle Bells :)  He's going to be extra excited when he receives his phone call from Santa too! Thank you PNP for making my son a memory he is sure to never forget.




This post is made possible by Child's Play Communications in providing me a free code towards the Portable North Pole products. 
 
 

Afrin Nasal Spray Review


The colder seasons are approaching which means coughs, sniffles, and sneezes are well on their way if they haven't came already! Adding a stuffy nose to that makes this time of year even worse. Don't let it get you down this time...Stick Up For Yourself! With Afrin.


 Afrin is a no drip, fast and powerful congestion relief, nasal spray made to get the job done! It comes in a pump mist that delivers the measured dose needed and lasts for 12 hours!  Afrin comes in 4 different types: Original, Extra Moisturizing, Sinus, and Severe Congestion. I tried out the Afrin Original, made for colds and allergies, and it couldn't have came at a better time. I've been battling a head cold for the past few weeks now and a stuffy nose has joined up in the fun.

As soon as I received Afrin in the mail, I tried it as quick as I could get the package open lol. I wanted that instant relief! I squirted two squirts in each nostril and within seconds, my nose felt so much better. I wasn't fond of the smell that came with it, but that passed quickly after. After a few minutes of the Afrin sitting in my nose cavity, I began to feel a cooling sensation in my nose, like the menthol in Vapor rub. It gave me a fresh, cool air feeling but kind of an odd burning sensation too. In the Drug Facts section of Afrin, it says not to use the product more then 3 days or burning, stinging or sneezing may occur, as well as an increase in nasal discharge. I had the increase in nasal discharge and slight burning, but this was after day 2 of using it. So I assume it just differs with each person. 

Afrin is made for ages 6 and up and works great to unstuff the stuffiest of noses. Just make sure you use it as recommended and don't go over the usage directed.

This post is made possible by Bzzagent, by providing product + coupons in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.  

Ready For Christmas

My son is so ready for Christmas!!
He drew Santa a picture and wrote his wishlist:
  1. Halo Toys
  2. Spiderman Toys
  3. Batman Mask
  4. Star Wars Toys


















He says he's been a good boy at school everyday :)

His first year of school ever, my little kindergartener, he's been doing great!

He's been patiently awaiting a hopeful reply from Santa....stay tuned for the Portable North Pole Post as his reply!!

Carmex Lip Conditioner Review

The cold seasons bring on dry lips but with Carmex Lip Conditioner, your lips can be soft and smooth all Winter long!! Thanks to the Carmex Blog Squad, I get to experience that :) I was sent the new Carmex Lip Conditioner, (one tube for me and one tube to share with a friend), which isn't quite a lip balm or a lotion, but a nice mix of both, making it a lip conditioner

The lip conditioner is made with 13 moisturizing ingredients and has an all-natural orange flavor-which smells just like orange creme Popsicles! Yum :) It contains a fast absorbing formula, leaving your lips smooth and kissable and works great as a base for lipstick.

I absolutely love the smell of this new Carmex Lip Conditioner. It is probably my new favorite item Carmex has made, just because of how good it smells! :) It glided on my lips beautifully, with its slanted edge for applying. It felt great, and agreeably, it kisses well ;) I was in love with it until I looked in the mirror and noticed it left a white residue on my lips :( I assume this is the lotion part in the ingredients, that causes it to clump up, but it isn't very pretty lol. So I just wipe my lips with water and it takes the white clumps off, while leaving the cooling sensation. Other then that, great product that keeps your lips satisfied all Winter long!



This post is made possible by Carmex, as a blog squad member, I was given products to review in exchange for my honest review.

Free Glasses from Firmoo!

Firmoo.com has a really great promotion going on where you get your first pair of glasses FREE!!! All you do is pay shipping and handling. Which is $6.95 So super cheap!

They have many different styles of glasses to choose from and you can upload a photo of yourself to virtually try on glasses to see how you might like them, before ordering. Firmoo has all kinds of glasses for reading, sun, near, far, even non prescription glasses!

I got Firmoo's, Unisex full frame acetate glasses and they sent the glasses in a nice case, with a cloth and a drawstring bag, as well as a mini key chain screwdriver.


 I love these glasses. My original glasses, purchased from a local eye store, were way more expensive then these, and not nearly as comfy. I wanted to get a new style of glasses without the nose pads so these were a great choice. I feel they look a little funny on me though because my original's are rimless :) But these are the most comfortable glasses I've ever worn.

Thank you Firmoo for an amazing experience!


Shoe Tying Party

When my son was younger, I would throw different fun day parties for random "National" days... things like Nation Chocolate Covered Raisin Day,  Messy Monster Day, National Watermelon Day...ect. I use to be way more on top of the up and coming National " " Days but it seems like the older he gets, the less interested I become in throwing these days. I'm still trying to keep it up though because these make for some good memories!!

When he was 3, he stopped using the booster seat on the toilet so I threw him a "Swirl Day" where we celebrated his big manness to using the toilet like a big boy completely. So I hung swirls from the ceiling and made swirl shaped food...it was a great day and a great memory.

Since he recently learned how to tie his shoes, I decided to throw him a "Shoe Tying Party". I made spaghetti and meat balls -and let him hear the song "on top of spaghetti- along with salad and garlic bread.  For a quick mini decoration, I made a bunch of shoe ties.

My son was surprised, though his reaction wasn't quite what I hoped for....But I know he will remember these fun days when he's older and will be grateful for them then!



Folgers is throwing a Giveaway! -Ended

Fill out this survey for Folgers Coffee to enter for a chance to win a Keurig Brewer, Four 24 count Folgers Gourmet Selections of K-cup packs, and a Custom Folgers mug-inspired by fans!!

Ends November 2012.

Yoga & A CrockPot

I was a part of The Neilsen Company and SymphonyIRI Group for the National Consumer Panel (NCP) , as a consumer voice, to make an impact in the marketplace. With a provided scanner, I would scan barcodes of all my purchases, as well as take surveys,and upload weekly for NCP to receive my transmissions of purchases. In return, I would get rewarded points and with those points, I could exchange them for different rewards.

I've been part of the panel for a couple of years and found it pretty time consuming after a bit. I didn't rack up many points very fast but recently I decided to cash in my points and discontinue my membership. With those points, I decided to get a Crockpot and I had just enough points leftover to get a small something else...which was only 1 of two choices: Either adorable baby-leg warmers (which I would have LOVED to get but I don't have a baby at the moment :/ ) Or a Regeneration Yoga & Pilates DVD. I chose the DVD...but only because I don't have anyone to get the cute baby warmers too lol. I suppose I could use the Yoga & Pilates work outs now :)

 Here is the crockpot I got and it is HUGE!! I've never used a crockpot so it should be fun finding new ways to cook with :) If you have any great crockpot recipes you wanna share, let me know! :)



Simple 3 Ingredient Brownie Muffins

 
   Looking for a quick dessert recipe, I found an easy 3 ingredient brownie muffin recipe by scoochmaroo over on instructables, I didn't have Nutella one hand, but I did have a similar spread called Nusco, which is a chocolate hazelnut spread so I just used that.


Ingredients Needed:

2 Eggs
1 Cup of Nutella
(or Nusco as I used)
1/2 Cup + 2Tbsp of Flour

(I added in a small amount of cocoa powder for a richer chocolate taste, and a small dash of baking powder to help it rise)

    
I would say these muffins have the potential to be tasty but I think because I uses Nusco instead of Nutella, they were not as sweet as I wanted.

    I decorated one little muffin with some chocolate flavored Whip Cream and sprinkles, making it adorable and so light and airy :)

    All together, the flavor was fine if you're not looking for something rich in chocolate. The amount of time and ease it takes to make these is worth it!
 


Peanut Butter Banana Nog with Silk

   Awhile back, the brand of Silk was having a fun Holiday Recipe Contest Celebration so I decided to whip up something for my entry. I have a love for Silk's Very Vanilla milk. It has a great flavor so for my entry, of course, I decided to include it!


I made what we like to call:  
Peanut Butter Banana Nog
 
   It's a super easy recipe and you make it all in your blender, you just need the following ingredients:
  • A Frozen* Banana  
  • A big dollop of Peanut Butter
  • 2 Cups of Silk's Very Vanilla Soy Milk* 
 
*(banana must be frozen to achieve a milkshake consistency.)
*(Any kind of milk will do.)

 
Throw all ingredients into a blender, making sure to thoroughly blend out the chunks. Pour into a cup, top with Chocolate Sprinkles and enjoy!!












A Smile For The Night


Give a kitty a box with a hole in it and this is what you get :)



                                                Peek-A-Boo, Kitty says hi

Pop Up Pancakes+Recipe

Found this amazing Pop Up Pancakes recipe over at Make and Takes by Marie and knew I had to try it!

The ingredients needed:
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 cup flour
  • 6 eggs
  • 1/4 cup melted butter
  • dash salt
Mix all ingredients together (Marie at make and Takes blends hers in a blender!) And pour into your greased muffin tins. (Be sure not to use baking cups as it will ruin) Fill the tins about half way so there's growing room :) Bake in oven at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes. The cakes will grow big but once out of oven, the pockets will fall down and the cakes will become the bowl shape we're going for. Once finished, serve them up with any kind of filling you desire! Fruit compote, sliced strawberries, whichever you prefer. These are sooo tasty! I filled mine with sliced strawberries, maple syrup and sprinkled powdered sugar across. So good!



Enjoy the Holidays with an Apple Pie Drink

 
Looking for an extra sweet holiday drink? This Apple Pie Shake recipe from eaglebrand.com will sweeten those taste buds and get you ready for Fall!
 

To make you need the following ingredients:

  • 1 (14 oz.) can of Eagle Brand® Sweetened Condensed Milk
  • 1 cup of cold applesauce
  • 1/2 cup of chilled apple juice or apple cider
  • 1/2 teaspoon apple pie spice*
  • 3 cups of ice
  • Apple wedges
 
Combine the sweetened condensed milk, applesauce, apple juice and apple spice in a blender, while slowly adding in ice cubes, and blend until smooth. Garnish with apple wedges and sprinkle with the apple pie spice mixture.

*Substitute a mixture of 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg and a dash of ground allspice for apple pie spice.




DIY Barbie Hair Curls

I came across this totally fun post from Beads,Braids & Beyond on how to transform your Barbies straight hair into a curly African-American type style! Me, not having a daughter just yet, I didn't have an excuse to buy a Barbie..but the little girl inside me just had to try this... Sooo I went out and bought one just for it! I figured the Barbie could be added to my tub of Barbies I had as a kid, that I plan to give to my someday daughter :)

The photo below is borrowed from Beads, Braids, & Beyond and how their Barbies hair transformed!

(not my photo) Source: Beads, Braids & Beyond Blog

See why I had to do it? It's wonderful! I found a Barbie from Big Lots for $5.50. Great price for this experiment :) I followed all instructions: Wrapping small sections of the Barbies hair in pipe cleaners, dipping her hair in boiling water for a count of 10, letting her sit over night til hair was dry, and unrolling pipe cleaners from hair, cutting straight ends...but mine didn't quite turn out as cute.
Here's my Barbie before her hair transformation.  
Straight hair.
And during:





The curls on my Barbie just didn't turn out right :/ I'm not sure what I did wrong.

But I made it work anyway :) 
I ended up braiding her hair up top and pulled it back into a half pony tail. 
It works right? :)


I love the idea of giving your Barbie beautiful curls 
so I will be trying this again, in the future, when more Barbies are bought :)

Thankful Thanksgiving Tree

A great idea for Thanksgiving this year... Have your child write out something they're thankful for each day, on a leaf and put it on the tree. I started this with my son and it's pretty cool. I was kinda last minute with figuring out a Thanksgiving idea this year, but I like this one and I think it'd be even more fun to use a felt made tree and maybe a little cooler leaves of some sort :) 
Either way, It will be nice to look back on.

If you want to do this project, feel free to print out the tree template and leaf templates I found.

Here is my sons, on the 1st day of November:


Check out the completed Thanksgiving Tree HERE

DIY Glow Jar

   After Halloween, we had some left over Glow bracelets that needed to be used up. They were ones we used while we trick or treated, that I threw in the freezer afterward to see if they would hold their glow. Turns out they do! I kept them in there for a few days and once I pulled them out, they still worked! So I decided to make a glow jar-a fun idea I found on Pinterest. I followed this great tutorial by The Gold Jelly Bean.


Things you need:

  • a jar with lid
  • gloves
  • glow sticks
  • tulle 
  • scissors



 You put the tulle in the jar and with gloves on  
(to protect from glow stick chemicals and glass inside them) you begin cutting the glow sticks in half and empty the contents into the jar. This part can get aggravating if you're a perfectionist like me, and want all the contents to fall in. You have to shake the sticks a little in there. I used 3 of the glow bracelets for this. Here is how the finished glow jar looked with the light on.

 And the glow jar with the light off! Pretty! Didn't look much like I expected it to look, according to all the sites of other people doing this, but for our first time it's pretty cool!

 My son wanted it to glow even more 
so we just dropped in some more glow bracelets and called it good :)

 I will be trying this again next time I buy glow sticks, 
but I will definitely be using more to maybe capture that fuller glow!