kids

Rocking out with #MusicTogether & #MomsMeet! (Review and Giveaway)

Abby H.12 Comments

Recently Moms Meet (the awesome sampling company I’ve mentioned here) gave me the opportunity to take the kids to a free Music Together class. Lil’ Man loves music. He loves to dance and sing and play instruments (We have a box of small instruments like a xylophone, maracas,  and other percussion instruments), so I was excited to take the kids to experience all that Music Together has to offer.

IMG_2174We visited Music Together in North Park (but there are other classes in San Diego, including some in Eastern San Diego County) with Miss Gina. Kids and parents participate together, so everyone signs, plays instruments, and dances. It’s so awesome to see everyone playing and learning together.

Everyone sits in a big circle, and follows the class leader. There was a mix of sing-along, dance (with scarves, a family favorite), and towards the end of the class, there was a jam session where everyone got to pick an instrument from a large box and play and dance to their hearts content.

IMG_2108If your little has the wiggles or is too small to sit still for 45 minutes, don’t fret! Kids are encouraged to get up and dance around while they sing! IMG_2115 Music Together classes are aimed at those aged 0-5 years, but don’t worry, Moms and dads will have fun too!

Lil’ Man and Bitty Bird both had an  incredible time! They enjoyed the music, instruments, even the scarves (Birdie just crinkled hers up and rubbed it on her face- it was very soft). We’ll definitely being going back soon!

Each semester of Music Together tuition comes access to your classes, along with a CD and a songbook! Some Music Together locations offer additional perks.

ThHelloEverybodyAppPromo-forTeachersey both really enjoyed the song Hello Everybody. Your kids can enjoy it too. Download the  “Hello Everybody” app (free) to get eight Music Together songs that you can listen and sing along to, whether you’re at home or on the go. Our sing-along feature lets you show or hide on-screen lyrics, plus you can control the volume of the vocals—or turn them off to hear an instrumental-only track and make up your own words. Use your device’s camera to make your own family music videos and share them with your friends. The app also includes a digital version of one of our award-winning Singalong Storybooks, Hello, Everybody, based on the beloved “Hello Song.”

I’m so excited that Music Together has offered a free class for newcomers to their program. To sign up for your free class, click here.

Singalong Storybooks - Hey Diddle Diddle - GiftSetAnd I’ve got an awesome giveaway too! Enter to win a Hey, Diddle, Diddle Singalong Storybook Gift Set!

This adorable gift set includes: the Hey, Diddle, Diddle Singalong Storybook in your choice hardcover or board book, an ultra-soft 9” black-and-white Mary Meyer cow named Sweet Constance (age-rating: 0+), two egg shakers, and a digital download of the song “Hey, Diddle, Diddle.”

To enter to win, just leave a comment with your kids favorite song to sing! I’ll choose a winner on November 30th. This gift set would make a great holiday gift!

Thanks to Moms Meet and Music Together for giving us the opportunity to attend a class to facilitate this review. I received this product for free from the sponsor of the Moms Meet program, May Media Group LLC, who received it directly from the manufacturer. As a Moms Meet blogger, I agree to use this product and post my opinion on my blog. My opinions do not necessarily reflect the opinions of May Media Group LLC or the manufacturer of this product.

Schoola: Two Deals- Two Ways to Save!

Abby H.

16_Nov_COZY_Blog 11_17Nov_woobox-blogpostRight now Schoola has two ways for you to save big!

Now through 11/22/15, save30% off sitewide with code COZY30.

This code can be used as many times as you’d like up until 11/22. You can combine it with referral credit, but not with other coupon codes!

Looking for another way to save? Sign up for their email newsletter to hear about Black Friday deals and holiday steals. You’ll get a $5 coupon code to use right away. Already get our newsletter? No worries, you can still sign up to get the deal.

Wanna spread the love of Schoola? The Give $20, Get $20 deal is back!
When you share your unique Schoola referral link with a friend, they get $20 to spend on their first order. As soon as they make their first purchase, you get $20 in credit.

We’re doing our next batch of tie dying on Thursday morning, and thanks to Schoola’s amazing sales and prices, I’ve been able to amass 16 shirts and onsies in various sizes and styles to tie dye!

I’d love to see what you’ve scored from Schoola!

 

 

The Solution for cleaning up Legos…..

Abby H.

lego parts

We play with Legos a lot, and that means that there are legos EVERYWHERE. I looked online to see what other moms do to combat the land mine field that stray pieces turn into late at night.

I found this Lego sack on Amazon, but I didn’t have any Amazon Credit, so I decided to improvise.

I pulled out a top sheet. Because, really, how many of us use topsheets on our kids beds? In fact, this top sheet was once part of a set that belonged to hubs as a child. The fitted sheet has long since passed on, but the top sheet lives on, since we never use it on the bed.

IMG_1931I poured out the box of Legos onto the sheet. After we played and built for a few hours, I gathered up the corners, so all of the legos were snug in the center of the sheet and deposited the sheet full of Legos into our 12 gallon plastic tote (like this one). It is the tote that has housed the Legos for a while.

Now when it’s time to play, all we have to do is lift out the bundle, lay it on the floor and spread out the sheet.

IMG_1932I am so glad that I no longer have to chase around stray pieces, and there are no more late night swearing sessions when we step on one in a darkened room.

Special Schoola Promo- Earn $11 in Credit!

Abby H.

06_Nov_11_promo_Blog

The mail man just brought us another bag of goodies from Schoola yesterday! I’m loving the high quality clothes I can get for the kids (and myself) for such low prices. And it gives me warm fuzzies that I’m helping schools at the same time!

Today only,when you spend $11 or more you’ll receive $11 to spend on Schoola. Credit codes are sent on 12/1 and limited 1 per person. For a limited time we have free shipping with no minimum site wide and  $20 referral credit rewards for you and anyone you refer!

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Here is Birdie is a dress that I got from Schoola!

 

Obol – The Champion of Breakfast Bowls

Abby H.

Hubs got one of these awesome Obol bowls a few years ago for Xmas, and they are super awesome! I can’t wait to get one and let Lil’ Man try it out!

Cereal Never Gets Soggy (important if you have kids and never get to finish anything in 1 sitting)!

Obol “The Original Crispy Bowl” made in the USA is the favorite for cereal
lovers around the world. Inspired by a playground slide, its Spiral Slide Design
changed the mundane cereal bowl into an everyday kitchen sensation. The
pleasure of eating cereal at the table, while watching TV or even is bed is easy,
just Swoop n Scoop!

Crispy cereal…your way, your pace.

Save 10% at obol.co Signup for instant discount code.

 

#obolco

5 Easy Steps to Going Green!

Abby H.

5 Easy Steps to Going Green!

A few weeks ago I went to the Moms Meet Wow Summit and learned a lot of ways that any family can start their journey to going green. And it is a journey. It’s not something that you wake up one morning and think, “Today we go green!”. Or at least it shouldn’t be. Think about how much stuff you’d throw away: Cleaning supplies, food, household goods. That woud make a lot of trash all at once, and that’s definitely not the direction you’d want to go in.

Here are 5 steps to start your going green journey (all of these we’ve implemented at our house):

Reduce: In order to reduce our carbon footprint, we re-use as much as we can.  For me the first step was to reduce the number of cleaners we had in the house, since a lot of them aren’t too environmentally friendly.

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Re-using packages helps the environment!

I made up some of the Dr. Bronner’s All Purpose cleaner (¼ c. soap in a quart of water in a spray bottle. Add ¼ tsp. tea tree essential oil if desired.) using a sample of the Baby Unscented Pure-Castile Liquid Soap, and I put it into a bottle that used to hold another cleaner. I washed the bottle thoroughly before mixing up the new cleaner. It REALLY gets the kitchen clean and because it’s an all purpose cleaner, I use it in the bathroom too! I really like that Dr. Bronner’s products are biodegradable, organic and are safe enough that you can brush your teeth with (but, yes, it does taste like soap!!).

 

 

 

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Sturdy Thirty-One bag and the Banana Box!

Re-Use: I re-use as much as I can around the house. We’ve got re-usable lunch bags for Little Man (and that classy banana box too- keeps the bananas from getting beat up in transit), and one for the car (it’s replaced our car snack box). I cut up old beat up bath towels and use them to clean up around the house. I re-use containers as well. I cleaned out an empty formula canister and put Nesquik powder in it instead. I even re-used the formula scoop (since it’s smaller than the usual portion size, we use less each time!).

Recycle: We have a recycling bin with a lid on the patio and we put our recycling in it. Once it’s full we take it to our local Re-Planet Recycling center. We earn a little money and help the planet- nothing better! It’s a great teaching tool for Lil’ Man!

Walk: We are fortunate to live within walking distance of a grocery store (which is closing soon, but will re-open as a Smart and Final soon), as well as a park, and a few other places that we like to go. When it’s possible (aka not 100 degrees), I put Birdy in the Stroller, and we walk as a family to pick up whatever we need or to go have an adventure. There is a second bonus: When we are shopping, I am limited to what we can carry in the undercarriage/storage area of the stroller. It really helps me stick to my shopping list! Not only are we getting exercise, but we’re leaving our car at home and that cuts down on the pollutants that are in car exhaust.

Replace non-green stuff with a green counterpart as we can: When we finish up with a non-green product, I replace it with a green version. Like the cleaner above, once I used up the last of the Windex, I replaced it with the Bronner’s recipe for cleaner. We ran out of paper towels a few weeks back, and in it’s place, I’ve been using  lint free cloths instead. I just wash them with the other towels when I do the laundry each week. I picked up AmazonBasics Microfiber Cleaning Cloth – 24 Pack for only $14.99. A few towels added to a load of laundry doesn’t cost anything extra either.

 

 

Our Frugal Halloween Costume Adventure!

Abby H.1 Comment

Rewind to this conversation a few months ago:

ME: “Henry, what do you want to be for Halloween?”
HENRY: “A Pirate Penguin!”
ME: 0_0
Henry: “You know, Mommy a Penguin that’s a pirate! Like Pingu! NUG NUG!!”
FIN

Yeah, so I set out to create a Pirate Penguin Costume. First I was going to make a penguin costume from scratch, but after pricing out fabric and questioning whether or not I’d be sane at the end of the process, I bought this penguin hoodie and a pair of black pants. He will wear both of these items again and again until they no longer fit, whereas, he’d probably only wear the costume I had originally designed and sketched just once.

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Modeling the jacket Miami Vice Style

Next came the question of the pirate part. I scoured thrift stores for two months looking for the PERFECT coat to pirate-ize. Luckily for me (and Henry), I found this amazing dark teal velvet ladies jacket at AmVets for only $4.95. It’s a size 6 Petite, which is perfect. In it’s original life, it had a short Mandarin collar and single breast front with 5 large buttons.

To fully embrace the pirate-ness of this jacket, we first had to take it in so it fit. We lopped off 4 inches of sleeve length from each arm, and then put a dart in the back.

 

 

IMG_1584Working with velvet and satin lining isn’t easy, but I used these awesome Wonder Clips and the fabric stayed in place without a problem. These clips are perfect for taking in or up garments. They have built in seam allowance marking, and they can clamp together large or bulky fabrics (and in my case, slippery ones too).

 

I like these clips much better than my usual sewing pins- The bottom of the clip is flat, so I don’t worry about the bottom of the fabric scrunching up, and I didn’t stab my self while sewing (something that occurs every time I sew a garment that is pinned together and I’ve been sewing for 20 years)!Screen Shot 2015-10-26 at 10.34.18 PM After we had taken in the back and the sleeves it was time to crank up the pirate-ness of this jacket.

We spray painted rayon lace with antique gold spray paint. We pinned the lace pieces to foam core board, sprayed the lace, and once it was dry sewed it on the cuffs. For the lace on the front, we applied it using fusible web. We did this instead of sewing it down because the jacket has pockets in the front that could not be accessed if the trim was sewn on.

I hot glued acrylic gems over top of the existing buttons. And there you have it- A Pirate coat, fit for a penguin!

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NUG NUG! (Pirate hat not shown in photo)

We used additional accessories that we had laying around the house: Pirate Hat, sash belt, velvet pouch, and no pirate kit is complete without a telescoping spyglass (it was a birthday gift).

There you go! A complete costume for less than $40.00

Hoodie: $16.24
Pants: $6.00
Coat: $4.95

All of the additional supplies (lace, spray paint, acrylic jewels, sewing notions) we already had on-hand.

I’d love to hear about and see your DIY Halloween creations! Leave me a comment (and a photo)!
I received the Wonder Clips free to facilitate a review. All Opinions are my own. I received no finanacial compensation to review them.

$20 Referral Credit + Free Shipping with Schoola

Abby H.

schoola20dolla

I posted about Schoola last month- and they are back again with an awesome offer AND a great sale that helps others in need! When you sign up for a Schoola account here you will earn $20 in credit and you can give $20 in Schoola credit for a limited time!

There are thousands of top-notch finds you can purchase with your Schoola credit. Plus, now for a limited time you can get FREE shipping with no minimum order value. That means with referral credit, you can SHOP FOR FREE. I recently picked up a bunch of white shirts and onsies that I’ll be using for out next big Tie Dye Project!

Brands Give Back Flash Sale Update: This week Schoola has partnered with the one and only Modcloth to bring you stunning new-with-tags dresses up to 50% off retail prices to benefit the Malala Fund – helping further girls’ education worldwide.

$20 will go far on Schoola– What are you waiting for???

Amazing New Creations at Boudin!

Abby H.

IMG_1509I love bread. And cheese.Imagine my excitement when Lil’ Man and I went up to Boudin‘s on Monday night and enjoyed their new seasonal offerings!

If you don’t know about Boudin, you are missing out. Crusty, tender, chewy sourdough bread, and so much more! For over 160 years, Boudin has been baking up crazy good bread, and they also have an amzing

There are tons of locations all over California, serving up amazing sandwiches, salads, soups, and heavenly bakery treats! Find your closest location here.

We sampled three of the new Seasonal Selections:Ham ‘N Brie on Rosemary Focaccia, Sourdough Philly, and Roasted Butternut Squash & Kale Salad

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Did you know that Boudin also has a Loyalty Club? Each time you make a purchase and for every dollar spent you will be awarded one (1) reward point. For every 50 points accumulated you will receive $3 off reward. The $3 reward will be automatically loaded to your account and you will receive an email notification to let you it’s there. Oh, yeah, but it gets better- You’ll get a free 1 lb. loaf of Sourdough bread each month upon any purchase that month!

Boudin also caters! Check out the awesome sourdough bread shapes you can order 24 hours in IMG_1514advance of your event: IMG_1513Yup it’s a Crab and a Turtle. They also make smaller turtles. One of the moms mentioned that she gets them for their kids. They hollow them out and turn them into bread bowls for soup. Such a great idea! You could hollow out the big ones and fill them with any kind of dip or soup to serve  at a party! They even make a Jack O’ Lantern shaped Sourdough loaf for Halloween! IMG_1535

They have all kinds of healthy, delicious foods- perfect for a busy family on the go. Eat in, or take it to go! If you opt to eat in, they serve a selection of Kendall-Jackson Wines, and have perfect pairings for everything on the menu!

Lil’ Man enjoyed a pizza and a ghost cookie. He told me the pizza was crispy and cheesy. This is coming for a four year old pizza fanatic, so you know it was good!

We’ll be going back to Boudin’s soon for lunch as a family! Big thanks to Boudin Bakery and Chef Alan Skversky for hosting a group of local bloggers on Monday night at their location on Balboa Drive. We had a great time! I received no monetary compensation for this post- I’m just sharing my experience!

 

 

 

Review: The Minbie Bottle

Abby H.

IMG_1506Recently, I was lucky enough to try out the Minbie Bottle. Ok, well, I didn’t try it, but Birdy here did.

I told ya’ll here that I have IGT, and that means we supplement with formula and donor milk, because my body simply doesn’t make enough milk.

Minbie is a high quality soft silicone baby’s bottle teat with revolutionized design-functionality that nurtures a newborn’s instinctive breastfeeding technique. Bird took to the bottle right away. The nipple is soft and looks most like a mother’s nipple. It makes it easier for her to transition between me and the bottle.

The product is the result of 10 years R&D by and Australian Mom, who was frustrated with the inadequacies of the functionality of generic bottle teat on the market when she had children, with the bottles taking over breastfeeding rather then supporting a baby’s ability to breastfeed well.

Minbie nurtures a newborn’s ability to breastfeed by allowing newborns to bottle-feed with the instinctive feeding technique that they are born with.
Minbie supports a newborn’s digestion by helping to release natural digestive enzymes. This supports a baby’s sleep too.
Minbie matches breast and bottle feeding techniques.

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One passed out panda!

Want more info about Minbie? Here is what some Aussy mums have been saying about the product recently. Thanks to Minbie for hooking us up with this great bottle. I was not compensated financially for this review, however, I did receive a free bottle and an extra nipple to facilitate this review. All opinions are my own.