family – Page 59 – Hewes Family Fun

Rocking out with the Spinjitzu Masters at Legoland California!

May 2, 2016May 2, 2016Abby H.

If you follow me on instagram, you know that Lil’ Man and I got a sneak preview of the new Ninjago World at Legoland California last week.

NINJAGO_THE RIDE_R_BLACK_Original_CMYK

And we had a BLAST! Ninjago the ride is crazy fun! Ninjago World opens officially on May 5th, just in time for summer adventures with your littles!

Rockin' the 3 d glasses! — Rockin’ the 3 d glasses!

LEGO NINJAGO tells the story of four young ninja heroes – Kai, Jay, Cole and Zane – who train under the watchful eye of Master Wu to master an ancient martial art – Spinjitzu. NINJAGO The Ride enables guests to demonstrate their ninja skills without the use of a hand held device and instead, they simply use their hand gestures. Riders collect points for their training and battle efforts throughout the ride and scores are displayed when their quest is completed.

What I love is that the ride isn’t passive, everyone gets involved- and let me tell you, after riding it 3 times, my arms were tired! Everyone in our car got into the action!

In addition to the new Ninjago The Ride, there are tons of fun activities to keep the kiddos entertained. Henry loved Kai’s Spinners, where you test your balance as you stand on one of Kai’s spinning platforms and twirl!

There is also a building stations where guests can tap into their inner imagination and create LEGO models inspired by NINJAGO. If the kids need to get their wiggles out, check out the rock wall! Kids can test their agility as they scale a rock wall. Or, check out the lightening drill! Guests can test their speed by pushing the lit up buttons in the speed cage.

And of course, you can’t go to Legoland without running into a few of your favorite Lego Characters!

In addition to the fun rides and activities, Ninjago World has some tasty treats too. We got to try tasty sandwiches from Ninja Kitchen!

LEGOLAND chefs have put a special twist on Asian street food with Banh Mi Vietnamese sandwiches on fresh baked baguette or steamed Bao Buns with your choice of crispy pork belly, lemongrass chicken or baked sweet chili tofu.

We had a great time! It was fun to check out the sights and sounds of Legoland California.

If you are looking for good deals on admission to Legoland California, here are a few options:

Costco: They frequently have discount tickets available.

Denny’s: Right now, select Denny’s have kids go free coupons available. When you buy an adult ticket, receive a kids ticket free. I’ve only seen this offer in San Diego area locations. I’m not sure if this deal is other places.

How do you get so much free stuff?

April 24, 2016Abby H.2 Comments

Screen Shot 2016-04-24 at 11.31.34 PM If you’ve been around for a while, you may notice I post photos on Social media- a lot of it is stuff I’ve gotten for free.

If you’d like to fill your mail box with goodies, here are a few companies that have great, FREE programs where you can earn free stuff!

L’oreal USA: The makeup Giant wants women from across the United States 18+ to join and take surveys on products, daily skin care regimens, and test new products . When you take 5 surveys, you are eligible to receive a full sized L’oreal product (Of their choice)! They also do consumer product testing. They send you a product, you test it and complete a survey.

Vocal Point is a multi-faceted website. One of its greater aspects is that it’s connected to Proctor and Gamble (P&G), and they often times have new or improved products to test and share with consumers. The members of Vocal Point can opt in to receive these items, and them share their opinions with other members of the Vocal Point community.

The Good Housekeeping Beauty Lab: The Beauty Lab needs female testers age 35 and up to help in our evaluations of beauty products. Some evaluations may require testers to visit the Good Housekeeping Research Institute at 300 West 57th Street in Manhattan, but for other evaluations, products can be sent by mail. There is no cost and very little time involved, and participants may keep beauty product samples.” If you’re interested in participating, please contact ghribeauty@hearst.com or 212-649-2408. I do 1-2

Bzzagent A WOM (word of mouth) website that helps spread the word on tons of great products. Sign up for campaigns when there are products that interest you, use them, and share your opinions (as well as coupons and samples!) with others in person or via the Internet. This sharing is called “buzz”, and the more you buzz and report your buzz, you earn Mypoints points, and chances for early invitations for more campaigns. I’ve been a Bzzagent for about four year, and I receive about eight campaigns per year.

Smiley360 is much like BzzAgent, in that it is also a WOM (Word of Mouth) website. Sign up for campaigns and you will receive samples to use, and coupons to share with friends. Report your sharing and earn points!
From their website, “Do you love to try new things? Haven’t you ever tried a new product and thought, “This would be so much better if…” Well, as a smiley360.com member, you can provide that kind of feedback directly to the source. Your opinion matters. And as a fringe benefit, you’ll earn status in the smiley360.com community, which has its own perks, rewards, and opportunities. It’s a win-win situation, really.”

Moms Meet- Read my post here.

Ralph’s Free Friday Download– Learn more here (one of their prior offerings that has info on the post about the program).

There are websites like MySavings that have a free sample section that is updated several times a day.

PinchMe offers free sample boxes once a Month- some months there are tons of samples, some months not so much, it just depends on your demographic and what they have.

Proctor and Gamble (P&G) offers samples once per quarter. Sign up here.

Legoland California: Special $35 tickets this weekend only!

April 20, 2016Abby H.

unnamed Community Days This Weekend!
$35 Admission to LEGOLAND

Support our local science, arts and after school programs this Saturday and Sunday!

Specially-priced $35 LEGOLAND tickets include admission with Park hours extended to 8 p.m. for even more family fun!

Buy your tickets online here. You can also get tickets to the SEALife Aquarium at Legoland for just $9!!

This event is very crowded, so please remember to be patient!

Easy One Pot Meal: Salsa Chicken

April 11, 2016August 24, 2017Abby H.3 Comments

01128 This is one of the most popular recipes that I’ve ever cooked! It is a family favorite and is very popular for meal trains and freezer meal swaps!

I’m constantly tweaking and improving my recipe, so I wanted to share this recipe with you. I cook this all day in the crockpot and it makes the house smell sooooo good!

Ingredients:

1-2 lbs of frozen boneless skinless chicken breasts (rule of thumb for this recipe 1/4 lb of meat per person, plus an extra 1/4 lb of meat for leftovers or seconds)
3 cups of your favorite salsa
1 bag frozen tri colored peppers and onions

Optional ingredients:

1/2c. chicken broth
1 cup rice or 1/2 cup quinoa
1/2 C shredded cheese

Directions:

In a crockpot, place the first four ingredients.
Cook on low for 6-8 hours.
(If you opt to add the last two ingredients) About an hour before serving add rice or quinoa to the crockpot along with the broth and turn crockpot up to medium or high. Meal is done once grain is done to your liking.
Stir before serving.
Ladle into bowls.
Top with cheese (optional, but tasty) and serve.

Makes 6-8 servings. Sometimes I turn leftovers into quesadillas, or add more broth and some C&W Southwest veggie blend and it transforms into a hearty soup! It’s so versatile and easy to make!

50% off at Schoola!

March 29, 2016Abby H.

SQUEE! It’s back! 50% off at Schoola! Just use Coupon Code SPRINGBRK at checkout. And in addition, if you are new to Schoola, they are offering $20 free and free shipping when you sign up here.

In addition to offering awesome gently worn kids clothes, Schoola also gives a percentage (40%) of each sale to a school. So you can feel good twice: Once while your saving $$, and again because you are helping support a school in need.

To get started, click here. And I can’t wait to see what you have scored!

6 Tips to Save Money WITHOUT Clipping Coupons!

March 28, 2016March 27, 2016Abby H.4 Comments

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Trust me, it can be done! There are lots of people who ask me about saving money, but they announce that they don’t want to bother with clipping coupons. They either lose them, forget them, or are embarrassed to use them. That’s ok. There are still ways to save money!

Here are a few:

Use money saving apps. My list of favs (and links) is here. I use these in addition to coupons and I save a ton. I was at Target buying shampoos and body wash the other day. After coupons and other discounts, I paid $14.86. After submitting my receipts to Ibotta and SavingStar, I got back and extra $7.99 in my paypal account!
Don’t forget your loyalty card! Some stores like Vons, Ralphs, heck even Best Buy have loyalty cards. Some offer discounts on the spot, and some accrue discounts to more you shop and scan your card!
Don’t forget your discount! Some stores offer discounts to military, teachers, and peace officers. And if you are a senior citizen there area plethora of discounts waiting for you!
Buy what’s on sale! If you have a choice between an item that’s on sale versus an item that is full price that is comparable size….
Check out the Price per Unit to see what is the best deal. Bigger isn’t always better!
Reusable bags can net you some savings….In addition to helping Mother Earth, some stores (like Target and Sprouts) offer a discount of .05 per re-usable bag used. A nickel isn’t a lot of money, but over a year, they can sure add up! I use between 5-10 bags each time I shop.

Price Per Unit: Is Bigger Better?

March 27, 2016March 27, 2016Abby H.4 Comments

random-aisle-photos 013 The price per unit helps you determine if the jumbo sized drum of applesauce is a better deal than a regular sized jar. How to determine the price per ounces is easy, most of the time stores do it for you! Take a look at the shelf tag- it should give you a price per unit, usually in ounces (oz.) or pounds (lb.).

If the price per ounce/pound on the larger container is smaller, then it is a good deal. When comparing, make sure both containers are using the same unit of measurement

Here is an example of what the shelf tags can look like:

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The majority of shelf tags will list:

The Item
The size of the container (in ounces, pounds, or units)
The Price of the item
The price per unit (in ounces, pounds or units)

This is also a great strategy to see if the store brand or a brand that isn’t your usual brand is a better deal than what you normally buy.

If your store doesn’t have shelf tags that break down the price per unit, here is how you can figure it out- I recommend using a calculator.

Take the price of the item and divide it by the number of ounces/lbs/units in the package.

Let’s use for our example the Uncle Ben’s Buttery Ready Rice, pictured above on the left.

$1.93 divided by 8.8 ounces equals .219, which is 21.9¢ per ounce.

If you keep a Price Book, you might want to include a space for unit price, you would write 21.9¢ in the Unit Price Column. You can round up, or leave it as a fraction of a cent, to get an exact price for comparison. Learn more about price books here.

Recipe: Honey Lemon Ginger Syrup

March 18, 2016March 17, 2016Abby H.1 Comment

P1050863 I’m no doctor, but I do know that when we don’t feel good, nothing is more soothing than lemon and honey.

I recently made a very soothing syrup, and I had to share it with you. I put 1/3 cup of the syrup in the bottom of a coffee mug and pour boiling water over it. I have been drinking a mug full twice a day.

It’s quick and easy to make!

Ingredients:

2 C honey (real honey, none of that honey flavored syrup junk!)
Juice of 10-12 lemons (reserve two lemons and chop them up)
A Thumb sized knob of ginger, peeled and sliced

Directions:

In a saucepan, combine the honey, juice, and ginger.
In a jar with a screw on lid, pack in reserved chopped up lemon pieces.
Cook on low for about 20 minutes. Do Not boil!
Pour honey mixture over lemons.
Screw lid on and let sit on counter until it reaches room temperature.
Store in the fridge.

If you’re looking for the science behind all of this, Lemons contain a lot of vitamin C! Honey is very soothing and coats a sore throat. Remember that honey should not be consumed by anyone under 12 months of age. And ginger contains anti-oxidants.

Gardening: Fun for the whole Family!

March 17, 2016Abby H.

watering and talking to the bell pepper plant.

Henry loves to garden. He loves planting seeds, watering, talking to the plants , and harvesting the fruits and veggies (even if he isn’t too hip on eating them all-yet!)

I think that it’s because of our heritage. My Maternal Great-Grandfather was a farmer in Minnesota.

Since we live upstairs in a condo, we don’t have 40 acres to plow and sow. So, like many urban farmers, we turn to container gardening. I have a growing Pinterest Board dedicated to container gardening, and I encourage you to join it!

Here are a few ways that we were able to start our garden on a budget:

I kept my eyes peeled on Craigslist free section for pots, I also put feelers out on social media for anyone getting rid of pots. That’s how we scored an awesome clay pot for our wild flowers!
We purchased heavy duty plastic pots at 99 Cents Only. They have a great selection of basic gardening tools, pots, planters, and tomatoes cages- all for $1.49 or less!
I found a great deal on seeds at Dollar Tree. I was able to pick up this box of seeds for only $1.00! I only used part of the box, since we don’t have a lot of room for our flowers. In addition to American Seed brand, they also had some Burpee brand seeds!
Most gardening stores are having sales right now- check out your local shop and see what kind of plants are on sale! We picked up a huge bag of soil, organic tomatoes (complete and in a planter with a cage), Green Bell Pepper, a 6 pack of strawberries, and a lavender bush for less than $50. We opted to purchase some plants in addition to seeds, just so Henry doesn’t lose interest in our garden (waiting for a tomato seed to grow into a bush is mind-numbing).

We are saving money on water too! Whenever it rains, we get out our rain buckets and collect as much as we can. It usually is only a few gallons, but we are able to use that water and not turn on the tap.

If you are new to gardening and aren’t sure what to plant or where to plant, check out Sunset Magazine’s Climate Guide. It will give you the ins and outs of when and what to plant. Luckily here in San Diego, it’s pretty temperate all year, so we can plant a lot of different plants.

Some of you may be wondering why we are growing wild flowers and lavender, since neither will produce any food. Well, no food for us, but food for bees! Without bees to pollinate the flowers on our fruit and veggies plants, there would be no food for us to harvest and enjoy! I try to plant flowers each year to entice the bees to visit our garden!

Last year we hand garden stakes with the names of our crops written on them. The sun faded them in no time. This year, we opted to do garden stones. I found a great project on pinterest and changed it up based on our needs.

We were recently gifted with two HUGE boxes of craft supplies and they contained these really cool wooden Whirligig/spinners (kinda like these). All we had to do was paint them! We quickly painted them up and added them to our planters!

I think gardening is a wonderful project for any family. It can be as small as a tomato plant on your patio, or as big as renovating your backyard to have a mini-farm! Gardening teaches kids about the life cycle of plants, and how to care for something else. I think it’s important that everyone know where food comes from, and how hard it can be at times (especially when you are waiting for it to ripen), so that we don’t take for granted our food.

Talk Back: I’d love to see your gardens too! Please comment with a photo, or let me know what you are growing!

Update: where have I been?

March 15, 2016Abby H.

I'm looking stylish in my mask and hospital gown, right? — I’m looking stylish in my mask and hospital gown, right?

You may have been wondering where I’ve been. I haven’t been updating the blog a lot and I definitely haven’t been doing a lot of Facebook posts lately.

I’ve been sick. It all started back in the middle of December when I started not feeling well I had a cough and a slight fever and I was just feeling very run down. I just chalked it up to being the holidays and getting the same ick and everybody else had.

When I called the doctors office to talk to the nurse practitioner she said that it was probably either just the virus that was going around or had a cold and not to bother wasting my $40 co-pay to come in to be told I have a cold. I appreciated that and took the list of OTC meds she suggested I take to Target and shopped.

Fast forward to the end of February and I can’t go five or ten minutes without coughing or hacking. I continued the take the OTC meds the NP suggested and just resigned myself to the fact that it was going to take 12+ weeks to recover like she said. After getting little over 3 hours of sleep Saturday night, I called the 24 hour nurses line on Sunday. I had reached my breaking point. I needed help. I went over my symptoms and confessed to the nurse on duty that I thought I might have a slight case of pertussis since I do have children and we go to the park a lot where there are all kinds of germy kiddos!

I have had the pertussis vaccination as a child and all the boosters that are supposed to be administered while you’re pregnant also. She said that she didn’t think I had pertussis because I wasn’t having the “whoop” in my cough (hence the name whooping cough), but she would have someone from my PCPs office call me on Monday. I asked her if she thought I should go to urgent care and she said no because urgent care is only for people who are sick. This made me a little upset as you probably can guess. Because I haven’t had more than three hours (tops) of sleep since Christmas and my voice is so hoarse from coughing but I can’t talk above a whisper most of the time.

After talking it over with my husband I went to urgent care where after having a doctor poke and prod at my glands, look down my throat, listen to me breathe, cough, and have a set of chest x-rays he said I’m going to give you a pertussis swab (If you’ve never had one it’s where they take a swab flexible wire and stick it up your nose really far. It does not feel good).

So here I am two days later waiting for the results of my pertussis test. I should get a phone call one where the other tomorrow or perhaps Thursday. In the meantime I’ve been given a prescription for an inhaler, oral steroids, and lovely little tussin pearls. I feel 1000% better than I did before. It could be that I’ve actually slept and I can take a deep breath without coughing incessantly for five minutes.

And I did a lot of research myself before coming to the conclusion that I should probably be tested for pertussis or even say those words to the nurse at the after hours line or the doctor at the urgent care. I looked at the CDC website and some medical journals online, I talked to adults actually had pertussis. They too had received the initial vaccination and appropriate boosters as indicated by medical professionals.

So why am I telling you all of this? Because you are your only medical advocate. If you don’t feel good and the doctors, nurses, and medical practitioners that you were speaking to you don’t take your concerns seriously or they brush you off as a hypochondriac or just someone who has a school-age child and you’re going through the back to school yucky that everybody gets, keep talking to to medical professionals until you find someone that will listen to you.

If I have pressed forward and demanded for an appointment when I called the nurse the first time I told her of the symptoms I was having, I probably would’ve been seen. They would’ve tested me for everything I requested it, and I would’ve taken medication and been much better right now.

You are your child’s primary advocate also! If your kiddo ins’t feeling well and their ped gives you a brush off, get a second opinion! I feel fortunate that my children have a wonderful pediatrician who listens to my concerns and answers all of my seemingly odd questions. She spent more time with me yesterday than any doctor have the entire time I have been seeing a doctor. She answered all of my questions about my children’s health and my health too. She even checked my medical record to see if the test results back for my pertussis test, which they had not. She seemed genuinely concerned that the petitioner and my PCPs office did not want to see me when I voiced a concern but I might have bronchitis or whooping cough because I have an infant in the house.

So now that I’m feeling better, you’ll be seeing your posts for me. I have a lot of awesome stuff to share with you guys about programs coming up that I’m being a part of, hopefully I’ll have some to give away supposed to say, I’m back at it.

Screen Shot 2016-03-15 at 5.02.02 PM In fact the rough draft of this post was dictated to my iPhone warded six loads of laundry this afternoon. All the while wearing Margaret in the Tula. I have a lot of awesome stuff to share with you guys about programs coming up that I’m being a part of, hopefully I’ll have a giveaway coming uptoo!

I’m hopeful that I’ll continue to be on the mend and help more awesome content for you guys coming up for fun crafts you can do with the kids! Thank you for all the emails Private messages on Facebook. It means a lot to me that you guys reach out to me to find out how I’m doing. I really appreciate it.

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