If trekking through snow, enduring frigid cold temperatures to try to find the perfect Christmas tree with kids complaining they’re freezing and want to go home doesn’t sound like your idea of fun, I have some good news. Does it annoy you to think of the exuberant amount of your hard-earned cash spent on a tree that in a few weeks will be dropping needles everywhere, having you constantly wondering if it has enough water so it’s not a fire-hazard and then having to drag the dried up, needle bare carcass out to the curb.? Why spend money year after year on the same thing, why not spend the money one time and be able to cut that expense out of your holiday budget? Wouldn’t that help with gift giving budget that seems to be expanding as quickly as Santa’s round belly?
King of Christmas has been providing high quality artificial Christmas Trees and decorations for over 10 years at competitive pricing. They have a tremendous Christmas Tree Sale going on now and they have free shipping in the contiguous 48 states as well as coupon codes to get you free ornaments with you tree purchase. You can choose from a large selection of heights, styles, flocked and prelit or unlit artificial Christmas trees. With the sale going on now you can get a gorgeous tree for up to 60% off shipped to your door. How’s that for convenience? Almost like Santa is bringing the tree to you himself!
Would you like a chance to win a Cypress Spruce 7′ Artificial Christmas Tree with LED Lights ($249 value) or a $100 Gift Card to King of Christmas? I thought you would, just click HERE to enter the Rafflecopter Giveaway!!! Good Luck!!! Stay in the know by following KingofChristmas.com on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.
ABCs Alphabet Phonics & Montessori Learn To Read app -Based on the Montessori learning method your child will develop and practice spelling, reading and writing skills while playing engaging games. Kids will practice writing their letters and their handwriting skills too! Kids love tracing dotted lines to learn how to form letters. The can form lower or upper case letters. There are fun mazes where they have to drag the dog’s bone to a word that rhymes with the word that the dog is thinking of as well as simpler mazes where they lead the dog to his prize. It is so cute and my little guy loves it! Kids are rated with 1, 2 or 3 stars for their performance.
BINGO-This is such a fun App and kids love hearing and singing along with the familiar BINGO song. Kids can clap and sing along as they watch the letters appear in the cute farm scene with the adorable dog. There is an upgrade of the free version where kids can even record and play a karaoke session or just sing and clap along. There are mini games too that are fun like animal cards and kids can also make up and record their own stories. My little guy loves recording himself and playing it back.
Preschool and Kindergarten Learning Games-Kids will practice writing their letters and their handwriting skills with fun games and activities. Kids have a blast tracing dotted lines to learn how to form letters. I like that there are left and right hand modes, 2 levels of difficulty challenges kids. Kids trace one letter with the dotted lines and then they try one that has no guiding lines right after. Before they are given the letter they hear the letter name and the picture of something that starts with that letter. You can choose to work on Upper or lower case letters. There are other games like the Alphabet and kids have so much interactive fun focused on a specific letter and learning vocabulary words that start with that letter along with fun graphics. Kids can trace numbers too and when they trace the number correctly they fill up a jar with fire flies. It is really fun and my little guy loves it! Kids are rated with 1, 2 or 3 stars for their performance. The free version can be upgraded to unlock more games and features.
I hope you give them a try and let me know what you and your child think.
Guest Post by Elisa Vicente Arce
If you’re a mommy like me then you’ll know as well as anyone how much you value your precious ‘me time.’ Whether it’s when the kids are in school or have gone upstairs to bed, we all love to put our feet up and read a book, watch TV or even play a few games on our mobile phones. In the modern age it seems we’re all addicted to our smartphones and tablets, so if you fall into that category, here are a few apps that are perfect for the modern-day mommy.
Healthy in a Hurry
Looking after your family’s health can be one of the biggest challenges when it comes to cooking on a time limit. If you’re lacking in a little inspiration, this wonderful little app features more than 200 recipes from the Eating Well Test Kitchen. Once you’ve got the app installed, nothing needs to be downloaded, and you can also filter what you want by main ingredient – perfect for fussy tummies.
Baby Connect
Are you pulling your hair out over your newborn? Having to cope with one baby can be hard enough, but when you’ve got more than one child you could find yourself at your wits’ end. Thankfully, the digital age is here to help us – Baby Connect helps to manage your child’s schedules and also records information such as feeding and sleeping times, and you can also manage personal contacts such as daycare centers.
Online Bingo
It’s the one guilty pleasure that many modern day mommies have, and why not? With so much choice out there, online bingo apps are more than just a simple game of calling out numbers – there is everything from Candy Crush-inspired classics to themed slot games!
Spending most of our days talking baby talk can lead us all to want a little excitement in our lives, and the app provides just that.
Baby Games
Ideal for tablet users, Baby Games provides a variety of colourful games to help stimulate and educate your baby boy or girl. Simply place your tablet on a stand or hold baby on your lap and let him or her play touch with a whole host of different challenges from Jack in the Box to Whack a Mole.
Earthlapse
If playing a few online games isn’t your idea of relaxation, you may want to try giving Earthlapse a go – not only does it play new-age, relaxing music; it also features time lapse photography of images of planet Earth as captured by NASA. To take you a world away from the stresses of motherhood, this app is truly out of this world.
Now for a sneak look at a special collection on our Holiday Gift Guide:
Tommee Tippee has the most adorable holiday theme products that are exclusive to Babies R Us. Having a baby on Christmas Eve like I did, I totally adore the whole line. How sweet is this gift set for the new Christmastime arrival? Shop Babies R Us to see the entire Tommee Tippee Closer to Nature Gingerbread Collection.
The gingerbread collection by tommee tippee is a limited edition range of essential baby products decorated so that they bring to life a magical fairy tale world where the gingerbread people live. The designs feature wonderful scenes of seasonal festivities, gorgeous gingerbread houses, delicate snowflakes and stockings brimming with presents, ready for the holidays.
The gingerbread collection features two brightly colored closer to nature feeding bottles in green & red. The closer to nature bottle comes with all the revolutionary features you would expect from tommee tippee, a unique, easy-latch-on nipple shape, designed with breastfeeding experts to mimic the natural flex, stretch and movement of a natural breastfeeding action.
The super-absorbent Closer to Nature Milk Feeding Bib helps to protect baby’s tender skin, with a unique dribble catcher that absorbs moisture, helping prevent rashes on baby’s sensitive skin.
That is just a glance at what will be a packed Holiday Gift Guide full of ideas for Men, Women, Teens, Kids, Toddlers, Babies, Pets and more!!! Make sure you follow us so you don’t miss a thing!!!
My father served our country proudly in the Navy during World War II, my oldest brother was a Captain in the Army during the Vietnam War and my other 2 brothers served in the United States Coast Guard. My uncles, cousins and other family members also served our country proudly in different branches of the military. I have nephews who are active members of the military and have already served several tours in Afghanistan and Iraq.
My friend’s husband served several tours in Iraq and Afghanistan but has suffered terribly with PTSD. They have 2 young children and the trials they face due to his severe PTSD are so stressful. Numerous hospitalizations, the need for help in the home to assist when her husband has an episode prevent them from doing many things families take for granted. Seeing what she has to go through has really shown me the reality of PTSD and how it affects our veterans. It is one of the reasons why I was happy to participate in the Believe in Heroes® Campaign.
Believe in Heroes® was established in 2010 to bring grocery retailers, trusted brands, and shoppers together to raise funds for WWP, a non-profit organization whose mission is to honor and empower Wounded Warriors. Most veterans face challenges as they transition back into civilian life, and today’s wounded veterans are meeting extraordinary obstacles including, the physical injuries as well as invisible ones, like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It’s time for EVERYONE to take part in ensuring our injured service members are well taken care of. The campaign has generated $16 million for WWP to date and has helped enable the expansion of its critical veteran programs that now directly serve more than 40,000 injured service members.
Want to help? You can easily help Believe in Heroes® raise funds to help our Wounded Warriors while doing something you do anyway, grocery shopping. You can download over $25 in coupon savings HERE. Coupons are available through 11/30/14 or while supplies last. For more information on the campaign and how/where to shop click HERE
You can also show your support by purchasing Believe in Heroes® merchandise in stores or online HERE .
I am participating in the 2014 Believe in Heroes Blogger Campaign. Although I was compensated for this post all of my words and views are 100% my own. #BelieveInHeroes
Through it all I have been trying to go through each day pushing it to the side and just moving through the day, immersing myself in work and life. However something small or large can propel all the pushed feelings to the surface and cause me to become emotional. This is happening when I am alone so no one really has a clue. That’s good because I have always been a person who does not burden others with “my stuff.”
I guess what I am trying to say is that more than busy, my heart and head have not truly been in the game this week. At times I just feel like taking a break from it all and some things I can’t but I am finding that I am pushing things I can off. Things like blogging and that has me feeling guilty and like a failure so it is a vicious cycle.
I don’t even think this post makes sense but I just want to apologize to those of you that do check in. I thank you for your understanding and pray things will turn out well and my mind will have better things to focus on.
Would you like free coffee? Who wouldn’t right? On September 16th McDonald’s USA wants to perk you up with free coffee! They don’t just want to perk you up for one day, they are kicking off the Second National McCafé Free Coffee Event that culminates on September 29th-National Coffee Day!
Starting September 16th through September 29th just visit any participating McDonald’s restaurant in the US and get a free small McCafé coffee during breakfast hours! This event builds on McDonald’s first-ever Free Coffee Event launched in March, when the company gave away millions of cups of free coffee during the two-week period.
“We know our guests are busy, especially during the morning, and a free cup of coffee goes a long way in helping get their days started,” said Greg Watson, senior vice president, McDonald’s US Menu Innovation. “That’s why we want to treat customers once again so they can taste for themselves just how great their mornings can be with a cup of McCafé coffee and freshly made breakfast.”
To celebrate two additional weeks of free coffee, McDonald’s is calling on people across the nation to “sip and tell” their embarrassing pre-coffee moments on social media with @McCafe using the hashtag #SipandTell. Select social media fans with morning mishap stories like missing the last train to work on Monday or leaving the house with mismatched shoes will be surprised by @McCafe with custom gifts and experiences to help start their morning off right.
McDonald’s first launched its McCafé line in the U.S. in 2009. The collection included McCafé signature blend coffee and quickly expanded to include iced coffees, espresso-based drinks, such as lattes and mochas, blended-ice beverages including smoothies and frappes as well as limited-time seasonal offerings. This holiday season, customers can again enjoy the White Chocolate Mocha, in addition to the new White Chocolate Latte and Hot Chocolate, for a limited-time.
McCafé fans will soon be able to enjoy their coffee whenever they want, including at home. McDonald’s recently announced a collaboration with Kraft Foods Group, Inc. to offer a variety of McCafé ground, whole bean and single cup coffees in grocery stores and other retailers nationwide starting in early 2015.
THE BOXTROLLS releases in theaters on September 26!
Story: A family event movie from the creators of “Coraline” and “ParaNorman” that introduces audiences to a new breed of family – The Boxtrolls, a community of quirky, mischievous creatures who have lovingly raised an orphaned human boy named Eggs (voiced by Isaac Hempstead-Wright) in the amazing cavernous home they’ve built beneath the streets of Cheesebridge. When the town’s villain, Archibald Snatcher (Academy Award winner Ben Kingsley), comes up with a plot to get rid of the Boxtrolls, Eggs decides to venture above ground, “into the light,” where he meets and teams up with fabulously feisty Winnifred (Elle Fanning). Together, they devise a daring plan to save Eggs’ family.
Directors: Anthony Staachi and Graham Annable
Writer: Based on the novel Here Be Monsters by Alan Snow
Voice Cast: Ben Kingsley, Isaac Hempstead Wright, Elle Fanning, Jared Harris, Toni Collette, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Richard Ayoade, Tracy Morgan
MPAA Rating: PG
This thing we call time is spinning too fast, in the blink of an eye, our kids grow right up. The time we thought we had passes us by, before we know it they’ll be moving on and saying goodbye. Childhood is far too fleeting and bittersweet for my taste. You see, I know how quickly it passes, this is my second time through it and so I know how it goes. First time parents think they have years and years and the time will go slow and not disappear. However, those of us who have been here before, know all too well, how quickly time goes.
We moms who were young enough to start over again with a new set of babes share a secret between us. We will tell you don’t blink because if you do, a lifetime will pass and you won’t believe it’s true. It’s scary and real, but we have to accept it, life is too short and over too quickly. We try to hold on kicking and screaming to push back the hours, days and the months. We want to just slow it all down but we know it’s futile, we don’t stand a chance but we try nonetheless in our warrior stance.
So, I’m not thrilled that another school year is thrust upon us. Unless some magical power comes over me tonight and somehow I am able to win the fight and turn back the time and start summer again, I will have to grin and rejoice at the dawn of the day and send my children along to start a new year. It’s harder than hard since my baby starts school and I just want to hold him and not let him go, but I know that he has much to learn and explore. The best thing comes at the end of the day, I can hold him as he shares all he did that first day. I will hold him and smile and laugh as he does. He will not see the tears fall from my eyes, instead I will secretly wipe them and treasure the moment and everything in it.
I urge you my friends to understand that no matter your age or the stage you are in, it will pass all too quickly without warning and leave you wondering just where the years went. You won’t have an answer, you will not even believe how fast time can fly. It’s then you will understand all too well that we’re not in control. We live a life, then it’s over and hope those left behind are filled with great memories of love from that sweet time we did share. So love on your family and friends while you can because time, is not something that can be bought, stopped or stalled. Time is the constant we know will keep moving, so live every day to the fullest you can because time waits for no one and isn’t your friend.
#HealthyHabits
I was a girl scout starting as a Brownie when I was a girl, my daughter was too and I was her Girl Scout Troop Leader. I have such fond memories of my time as a Girl Scout and my daughter does as well. Earning badges was such a fun time and we had a blast while mastering life long skills that would serve us well no matter where life led us. I was blessed to see it from both sides, as a scout and as a scout leader. The relationships built during that time are still with me today and have enriched my life. The Girl Scouts is a wonderful organization that goes above and beyond for Girls.
Did you know that Together Counts and Girl Scouts of the USA Healthy Habits Journey are partnering in the Together Counts Program. The Together Counts Program is active nationwide and provided by the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation to inspire active and healthy living via physical activity and nutrition, a fundamental underpinning of efforts to reduce obesity. The principle behind the program is called Energy Balance, which just means balancing the calories we consume with the calories we expend.
o Energy In: the calories you get from eating and drinking.
o Energy Out: the calories you burn from physical activities
Healthy Habits Journey Program & Booklets
The Girl Scouts created three “healthy habits” booklets in conjunction with the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation, These booklets can be a great resource for volunteers to use in conjunction with their Journey Adult Guides. The free booklets help guide girls on their Journey as they learn to lead active, healthy lifestyles. Through the use of these free resources for Daisies, Brownies, and Juniors, Girl Scout volunteers and families can guide girls in fun, easy ways to achieve “energy balance.”
The three Healthy Habits Journey booklets available for download include:
o Between Earth and Sky with Healthy Habits
o WOW! Wonders of Water with Healthy Habits
o Get Moving! with Healthy Habits
I really think it’s wonderful that the Girl Scouts involvement with The Healthy Habits Journey Program & Booklets will go far in helping girls learn early on the importance of staying healthy, fit, exercising and eating well. With the technology we have today it’s all too common to see kids and their families plugged in and leading a couch potato lifestyle. I think these booklets will have a big impact in getting the girls and their families to take a closer look at their energy balance and doing active and fun activities together. You can download all three booklets HERE.
Come To The Twitter Party To Learn More About
If you want to learn more about the Girl Scouts Journeys Healthy Habits booklets and how you can encourage healthy, active lifestyles, plus have a chance to win a $50 VISA Gift Card, attend the Healthy Habits Twitter Party on September 9th from 9-10 pm est. Log onto your Twitter account and follow the hashtags #HealthyHabits and #GNO. Hope to see you there!
For the latest information and to connect on social media with the Girl Scouts and Together Counts you can connect with them on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and their website and blog links below: