event

MommyCon comes to San Diego, CA next month!

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I’m so stoked for all of my mommy friends! MommyCon is coming to San Diego, CA next Month,  Saturday, November 9-10, 2018 9:00am-4:00pm at the San Diego Marriott Mission Valley (8757 Rio San Diego Drive San Diego, CA 92108).

Screen Shot 2018-10-06 at 10.14.53 AM.pngMommyCon is the largest natural parenting convention and we are headed to San Diego! While attending MommyCon, you’ll experience the feeling of community while learning about birth, baby-wearing, cloth diapering, breastfeeding, and feel confident in your parenting
decisions.

This two day convention has a lot of great, informative classes about all aspects of parenting- feeding, sleep, diapering, child-wearing, and of course, connecting with your spouse!

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The amazing class line up!

If you purchase a VIP or Premium admission, you score a sweet swag bag full of goodies, in addition to access to all the great classes and the vendor floor. If you’d like to attend, use code “FAMILYFUN18” for 10% off of tickets. To view the complete schedule, buy tickets and get more info go to their website.

I hope to see you there!

 

 

 

Mark your Calendars- Saturday is FREE MUSEUM DAY!!

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Screen Shot 2018-09-20 at 10.18.52 AM.pngHooray, It’s back! This is one of the kids favorite “holidays”, free museum day! If you’re looking for some adventure on Saturday, September 22, check out the event website here, and pick a museum!

Luckily for us here in San Diego, there are TONS of museums for us to chose from. One thing that I like about the site is that it shows you which museums are free every day. So if it’s something that appeals to you and your family, you can chose to go another day and not have to fight the crowds.

This event is taking place all over the US, so regardless of your location there should be a few participating museums near you!

 

Talk Back: Which museums are you interested in visiting? 

 

Clean Out Your Closets, it’s SWAP TIME!!

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Ya’ll know I love me a good Clothing Swap. If you are a San Diego, CA area resident, there is a great swap coming up on the 29th of September.

Skyline Church in La Mesa is hosting it’s twice a year swap, and boy am I excited! I’ve been cleaning out our closets, dressers, and every space that we store stuff.

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I even cleaned out my trunk to make room for all of the new stuff we’re taking home!

In addition to clothing, they also accept housewares and all kinds of other stuff, so I’ve been going through the kids bookshelves to take along any books they may have outgrown or any duplicate books.

We’re dropping stuff off next Thursday afternoon. I’ve always got extra items, so if you’re a local and want to come but you don’t have anything to swap, let me know!

If you can’t make this swap, but want to learn more about future swaps all over San Diego County, Check Out Thread Bumpin’– It’s a Meetup.com group, especially for clothing swaps. It’s free to join. If you are new to clothing swaps, check out my post here all about them and why they are so cool!

Finally: If you are in need of clothing, but have nothing to swap, two good free clothing resources in San Diego are The Closet on 54th (Men, women, and children’s clothing) and Naomi’s Closet (only women’s clothing).

Talk Back: Have you ever been to a clothing swap? What is your favorite part?

Moms Meet Wow Summit 2018 60% off All Tickets This Weekend Only!

Abby H.

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Uh, yeah… This is INCREDIBLE NEWS! I love Moms Meet, and the Wow Summit was a blast when I went 3 years ago- which is the last time it was in San Diego.

It’s coming back to So Cal, in Anaheim, November 2-3, 2018. I couldn’t be more excited, and now tickets are 60% off this weekend only!

Friday is bloggers only- There are networking opportunities, workshops, meeting with brands, plus lunch from Table5 Pizza, and an evening cocktail party.

Saturday is for everyone! Get ready for a full day of learning and connecting! Moms in attendance will hear from guest speakers, attend educational workshops, and sample tons of free products in the exhibitor room. At the end of the day, you’ll walk away with an amazing goody bag!

 

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There are some amazing sponsors that I can’t wait to meet and learn more about: Table5, Solgar, CV Science, Lindsay, Don’t go Nuts, and True Made Foods, just to name a few.

If you want to buy tickets, here is the link. at 60% off with code: LABORDAY. Honestly if you live in OC/LA, it is worth the goody bag to go. Tickets for Saturday only are $39 before the 60% off!

And if you aren’t able to come, don’t worry, you can live vicariously through me, as I’ll be posting a ton of photos on Instagram!

6 Tips for Getting Ready for Back to School!

Abby H.

back-to-school.jpgIt’s coming… For some of us, back to school is NEXT WEEK! For others it’s later in August, and some lucky folks, have until Labor Day in September. Regardless of when your kids go back, it’s nice to be prepared and save money.

 

Here are a few ideas to help you prepare and stay on budget!

Packing an Awesome School Lunch.

Shop Online to Save Big-  I love shopping online, especially at JCPenney and Kohls. Lots of great deals to be had, coupons, and ship to store to save even more!

There is a backpack and school supply giveaway in Santee on August 19th. More info here.  If you need school supplies sooner, Assemblywoman Dr. Shirley Weber is sponsoring a Back to School Kick off and Community Health Fair on 8/11/18.

If you are worried about being able to provide a nutritious, healthy lunch for your kiddos, The San Diego Food Bank sponsors Neighborhood Distributions throughout the month all over the county. You can go and get free, fresh produce- usually between 10-30 lbs. per family.  No proof of need- Just grab your reusable shopping bags and go!

a72904da152a0795ba05aaecba3a28bc.jpgAdjusting back to the school-year schedule can be a little tough- That’s why we start to get the kids back to bed at their regular time starting the beginning of August. For our kiddos, keeping them busy and active all day, really helps. Trips to the playground, beach, zoo, and pool really help.

We’ll be hitting up the night time zoo this week!

And one last back to school tip: Let your kids play and hang out with friends as much as possible before they go back, especially if they aren’t able to see some of their friends at school. We’re hosting a K’Nex Play Time Party with Tryazon this Wednesday at Shadow Hill Park in Santee! If you and your gang will be in the area, please stop by! There will bea chance to win prizes, yummy snacks, and cool toys!

 

San Diego STEAM Camp- Learning and Fun!

Abby H.

Screen Shot 2018-04-24 at 10.03.42 PM.pngMy friends Annie and Christine are hosting an awesome STEAM camp this summer, and Registration JUST OPENED!

They are very excited to be offering four summer day-camp sessions this year. Camp will be open for children age 5-10. We will be holding camp at two different locations in Clairemont and Kearny Mesa. Camps will be Mon-Fri from 9:00am-3:00pm and include free lunch. Lunches are provided by the San Diego City.

Screen Shot 2018-04-24 at 9.54.50 PM.pngCampers will do daily art and science around a fun weekly theme. In addition to art and science, our days will also include interactive games, STEAM inspired stories, outside play time, free lunch and more. We will have an underlying focus on kindness and helping others. Each camper will put together a care package for Cali Kids Medical Foundation to give to a family with a child admitted in the hospital and will also make cards for kids in the hospital.

Be sure to submit your complete your child’s registration form.  You can learn more on their Facebook page.

Not only will your kiddos enjoy STEAM activities, but they’ll be helping a family and child during a tough time! I’ve known both ladies for many years and they love kids and they are passionate about STEAM education.

Freebie Round-up!

Abby H.

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I haven’t done this for a few weeks and I have found a bunch of really cool freebies and events, so I have to share!

Free Personal Pizza at Chuck E Cheese’s– The pizza is a lot better than it was when we were kids!

Free Window Birdhouse at Home Depot– Check and see if your local Home Depot offers free kids workshop every weekend, a few of our local HD’s do!

Free Subscription to Town & Country Magazine

Free Subscription to Weight Watchers Magazine

Panera Members – Free Bagel Everyday in March

Free Solero Frozen Fruit Bars for Kroger & Affiliates

Free Kroger Tortilla Chips at Kroger & Affiliates

Free Chobani Greek Yogurt

Free Sample of SPLENDA Naturals Stevia Sweetender

Free Goody Bag at buybuy BABY Stores

Free Quick Start kit from Atkins (and $5.00 in coupons too!)

What’s your recent favorite Freebie?

 

Freebie Friday!

Abby H.

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There are lots of goodies this week!

Getting Ready for Influential Summit!

Abby H.
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I’m hoping this is the view I’ll see tomorrow from the hotel the conference is being held at!

If you follow me on Instagram, I just posted a picture with the two makeup looks I am contemplating for tomorrow.  Tomorrow a bunch of bloggers, social media influencers, and brands are getting together in Carlsbad, CA (home of Legoland) to meet, learn, and chill at Influential Summit.

I’m looking forward to a day of learning and ADULT CONVERSATION!!  For those of you who don’t work from home, being a work at home or stay at home parent can be very quiet. Well, you’re frequently not quiet (“Put down the cat”, “No, we aren’t watching Octonauts for 6 hours today!”, “Do you have to go potty?”, etc.), but what’s lacking is adult conversation.

I won’t be posting much tomorrow blog-wise, but check me out on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook for pictures and posts about everything I’m up to! And I’ll be hanging with Brooke from Crying Out Loud.  By the way, if you haven’t checked out her latest post on ways to score free and cheap grub at Chick-Fil-A, you need to get over there and start reading tout suite.

Looking for Free Fun? 10 Local Community Events

Abby H.

IMG_20120331_163227We love getting out of the house to have adventures, but, being frugal means that I have to get creative.

Thanks to local publications like The San Diego Reader and San Diego Family Magazine (both are free and available all over), as well as Facebook, we are never wanting for free fun.

Here are our Top Ten Community Events that are for kids and families for Q1 2018:

  1. 1/2/18-1/4/18 Santee Library hosts the most fun, creative events for kids. They are starting the year off with 3 events, January 2-4 in the afternoon.  We are very excited to go to Imagination Day. If you aren’t in East County, check out your local San Diego County, or City of San Diego Library branch. Most branch libraries have fun events for kids after school and during holidays.
  2. 1/6/18 Free Family Fun Fest at the Kroc Center.  The Kroc Center hosts a lot of great programs and events each month. The Kroc Center Free Family Fun Fest – Meet & greet with the San Diego Sockers, sports challenges, arts & crafts, inflatable park, costume dress up, giveaways and more
  3. 1/16/18 Family Read and Play Day. Again the Kroc Center is hosting this event. They host a reading event usually once a month. Sometimes the kids get to take home a copy of the book as well. Family Read and Play day, featuring the book, “Children Around the World” by Donata Montanari.
  4. 1/20/18 Santee Active Life Expo.  From 9am-2pm, some of the free activities include: Watch professional athletes compete, Health & wellness activities, Extreme obstacle courses, Trial fitness classes, Firefighter challenge,  BMX trick shows, Free breakfast (while supplies last), Learn how to race walk
  5. 2/3/18 The Water Conservation Garden over at Cuyamaca Community College offers Free Docent lead tours of the gardens. Tours begin promptly Saturday mornings at 10:00 am in the Plaza. No reservation required. 12122 Cuyamaca College Drive West
    El Cajon, California 92019 My kids love this place- There are tons of fun areas to explore and learn all about nature.
  6. 2/6/18 is National Frozen Yogurt Day.  There are no concrete details yet, but in past years Menchie’s and Yogurtland both gave away free froyo. I will for sure be posting more details as they become available.
  7. 2/9/18 is National Pizza Day.  In the past there have been great offers for free slices and free whole pizzas. Sbarro and Pizza Hut usually participate.
  8. 2/13/18 is Shrove Tuesday which means that FREE PANCAKE DAY will be around that time. IHOP is the only restaurant in our area that offers free pancakes.
  9. 2/14/18 is Valentine’s Day. There are usually free events for kids at local libraries.
  10. And finally- Henry’s Birthday is in March. While there are no specifc free events for his birthday, here are my lists of birthday freebies (for kids and adults). Original List and the updated list with some fun new stuff.

I’d love to hear about what your favorite free local events are!  Please drop a comment with details and a link!