Being Present Vs. Giving Presents

This Christmas was seriously one of my favorites.
It was our smallest, and most relaxed that I can remember.

After my dad passed in October, Dave and I made the decision that Santa would be bringing less this year. Instead of buying presents we would "be present". As I look at the smallest piles Santa has ever brought, I find happiness in the past month: P-Town, NYC, American Girl, Eloise at the Plaza, The Nutcracker, Edaville, and Disney on Ice; time spent with my kids and family. Tomorrow morning will be filled with happy squeals as they dig through their gifts but the best presents are the ones that don't fit under the tree. 🎄🎅❤ @fisherprice @originalfunko @justplayproducts @vtechtoys @megabloks @hallmark #tsumtsums #ittybittys #puppysurprise #puppyinmypocket

A photo posted by Heather (@heathgiff) on Dec 24, 2015 at 8:09pm PST

Like the Insta photo says, it was one of our "smallest" (read: least expensive) Christmases.  For Emma's first Christmas, she only received a car seat (her convertible) and  Fisher Price Sea Horse.  It was all we could afford and I found myself making up for it in the past few years.  I never spent a lot, always getting things at major discounts but this year I really wanted to focus on being with my kids, rather than gifts for them. We spent less than $100 on each kid.  Most of the gifts were blogging perks and the others were at super discounts.  Instead, we funneled money into our "fun account". 

The first weekend of December, the kids and I went to Provincetown for the weekend with my Grandma, Mom, and sisters, and walked on the beach, went shopping, and ate lobster and chowder. 

It's such a relaxing way to spend a weekend!

The following weekend Emmalee and I went to New York City for the night. My youngest sister joined us for a girls night! I've been meaning to blog the whole trip and just haven't.  It was so much fun.  We got to NYC bright an early on Saturday morning, around 9:30 am, parked the car, dropped our luggage off at the Broadway @ Times Square Hotel and headed into Times Square. From there we walked to Central Park where we browsed the pop up holiday shops, played on the playground and walked over towards the Plaza hotel. 

We stopped at the Plaza Hotel to visit the Eloise giftshop, grabbed some macarons from the dining hall and made our way down Fifth Ave towards Rockefeller Plaza stopping to see all the window displays. 

We did a quick run through Magnolia Bakery for cupcakes and walked back to the hotel to check in and drop off our stuff! After a little rest, we ventured back to 5th Ave for the American Girl store, Sephora, and dinner. The hotel was perfect for our get away and we checked out after eating a complimentary breakfast and headed home.  Emma spent 30 minutes asking when we could go back and if we couldlive in New York City so I think she loved it.

Our third adventure was to the Nutcracker at Providence Performing Art Center. 

A photo posted by Heather (@heathgiff) on Dec 19, 2015 at 1:12pm PST

Emma is big into ballet right now and this was perfect.  She was in awe the whole show and 6th row seats were amazing!

Our fourth adventure was to Edaville Railroad in Carver.  

The whole post is in that link but a family night of rides, Santa, cookies and Christmas lights was perfect!

And our final December adventure was to Disney on Ice in Providence!

$15 opening night tickets meant it was totally affordable, and like always, I invited my youngest sister to help play babysitter. I love my husband and love that he works as hard as he does for us.  I also love that my sister is such a handy babysitter. :)

We brought Ty with us and had no clue how he would do, but he was dancing around to each song! It was so cute!

Our December was amazing.  Even my school vacation has been so relaxing.  We have gone shopping a few times, cleaned rooms in the house, but really honestly, we've been in pjs all week and I love it. While I love the Christmases that we've been able to give our children over the past few years, this one was my favorite. I didn't stress about gifts for my children, or treats for work, or even spending money on decorating the house. I focused on my family.  My kids. I was present instead of giving presents.

Edaville USA Festival of Lights: Another Giveaway!

Disclaimer: I was provided tickets as a blogger for Edaville USA. 

We have had some amazing weekends this month.
The first weekend was spent in P-Town, walking the beach, eating seafood and going shopping.
The second weekend was spent in new York City, where we gorged on cupcakes and walked over 30 blocks.
And this weekend we spent it at The Nutcracker and Edaville USA.

Edaville is quickly becoming a family favorite of the holidays, and with the newly renovated park, it was even more fun this year than last year.

We got to the park right at 3 pm when it opened so we would have lots of time on the rides before it got too dark.  We of course, stopped at the carousel first because we always do and take at least 3 turns on it, then we headed off. We hadn't seen the new Thomas Land so we went straight there first. I was amazed at how many great rides there were! Tyler loves trains, even though we haven't introduced him to Thomas yet, so he was very happy, bouncing along saying "shhoooooo shhoooooo". Emma went on lots of rides by herself, more than I ever expected!

I'm so excited for the addition of Thomas Land and am so excited to see how much more they develop it!

After Thomas Land, it started to get dark so we headed in to one of my favorite areas, the indoor play area! Obviously, I like it because it's warm! But it also has great little kid sized rides, including a merry go round, a pedal powered small merry go round type toy, motorized cars, and a huge ball pit upstairs plus bumper cars, a arcade type area and Santa downstairs! IT's a smaller sized area so it's nice to be able to let the two kids really play and run around a bit!

While all of these are great and fun reasons to visit Edaville, we were really there for the Festival of Lights! The train ride around is Emma's favorite! The trains leave every half hour and take about 20 minutes to go around the whole place.  We always stop at the little bakery and grab cocoa and cookies before boarding. I thought this year's lights were much better than last year's! There were either more, or arranged better- it was so fun! Emma was a big fan of all the dinosaur shaped displays!

We had a blast and while I was excited to give away a set of tickets for last weekend, I'm super excited to have ANOTHER family 4 pack to give away again! Edaville doesn't close up until January 1st and with the gorgeous weather expected, it would be the perfect vacation week daycation trip! Head over to my Facebook page to enter to win and if you can't wait to see if you won, use the code SANTA for $5 off Festival of Lights tickets now!

**Tickets are no eligible to be used on SATURDAYS, Polar Express, or Santa VIP!**

Gifts for the Star Wars Fan

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, I may be compensated for purchases made through these links. For more information, click here. 

It's Star Wars movie day!Today is the release of the newest Star wars movie, The Force Awakens and the entire world is pretty much a mess over it. My husband has tickets with his friends to go this morning and while I have no desire to see it... okay maybe a little bit after I forced to watch 4 of the 6 "originals" while recovering from my surgery... I love the ridiculousness of how everything is now Star wars themed. 

I curated a few of my favorite items that would be perfect for the holidays, or just to celebrate the new release! Which is your favorite?

Complete BluRay Collection
Star Wars View Master
CoverGirl Lipsticks
GUM Lightsaber Toothbrushes
Darth Vader Waffle Maker
Star Wars Socks
Darth Vader Floor Mats
Darth Vader Kids Pajamas
12 oz R2-D2 Water Bottle
Star wars Battle Front for XBOX One
BandAids
Han Solo Silicone Ice Cube Tray
Star Wars Monopoly
Men's Bowtie
Men's Winter Hat
loungefly Wallet
Little Golden Books 

Puppies from Just Play

Disclaimer: I was provided these products to facilitate my review, however all thoughts and opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links, I may be compensated for purchases made through these links. For more information, click here. 

Puppy fever has hit our house.  Emmalee wants all sorts of puppies for Christmas. The first two items on her little list to Santa were for puppy themed toys: another Puppy Surprise and Puppy in my Pocket toys.

I love that she loves Puppy Surprise toys because I had one when I was little! Granted, the ones when I was little only came in "natural colors": black, brown, cream... and the ones Emma want come in colors like pink, purple, and rainbow!

Puppy Surprise has 3, 4 or 5 surprise puppies inside the mama puppy's belly. You could get any combination of boys or girls! The belly has a strip of velcro so you can tuck the pups away again so they don't get lost! There is Puppy Surprise, Kitty Surprise and Pony Surprise for all the animal loving kids!

The second item on Emma's list are the super popular Puppy in my Pocket toys!

Emmalee's favorite Puppy in my Pocket toys are the blind bags! Each sealed bag hides a puppy inside and she loves the surprise! Just Play also makes great play sets for those who prefer to know what they're spending their money on.

I can't wait to see how excited Emmalee is when she sees these under the tree next week!

Gifts for Little Kids

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, I may be compensated for purchases made through these links. For more information, click here. 

As promised, the first part of my gift guide for kids is up!
This guide focuses on the smallest friends you know, and because I don't believe that toys should be defined by genders, you will never see a "great toys for girls" or "great toys for girls". Instead these gifts could be great for any child under the age of 2 or 3, although many will grow with the child until they're older!

Kickflipper 
VTech Sit to Stand Walker 
Frontier Logs
Soft First Doll
Thomas the Train Railroad
Mega Bloks First Blocks Set
Melissa and Doug Pounding Bench
Plush Minion
Fisher Price Scooter
Skip Hop Elephant Toy
LeapFrog Oven
Fisher Price Big Animal Zoo

December Weekends: Edaville Ticket Giveaway

Disclaimer: I was provided tickets as a blogger for Edaville USA. 

December is one of my favorite months.  My grandmother's birthday, my mom's birthday, my sister's birthday. The month my husband proposed to me.

And then there are the things that happen every December that aren't steadfast dates.  Driving around to look at holiday lights and our yearly weekend trip to Provincetown to enjoy the last weekend that most shops are open. Breakfast with Santa and the Festival of Lights at Edaville.

We went to Edaville's Festival of Lights last year and Emma was just in love with it.  We got to meet Santa, go on some great rides, and Emma loved the hot chocolate we bought at the depot to take on our train ride to see the holiday lights.

While we're spending this weekend by the sea, and next weekend in the city, we'll absolutely be making time to go to Edaville before Christmas again. We also want you to get the chance to go!

According to Edaville's website, The Festival of Lights is the most loved event of it's kind. The train is warm and dry while you ride through the holiday lights. The train runs approximately every hour so before and after you can enjoy the vintage amusements rides (there's a whole inside set of rides for small kids!), the new Thomas Land, or a visit with Santa!  The entire place is decorated with holiday displays and you can grab some delicious treats while walking around or take a seat in one of the eateries.

Edaville is open weekdays from 4-9 pm, and weekends from 3-9:30 pm until January 1st.

Winner recieves 2 tickets to be used any day of the week excluding Saturday and excludes The Polar Express and Santa VIP.  Contest ends December 10th.  Winner will have 48 hours to claim. Winner will be responsible to inform me of the day they will be attending and will be responsible to pick up the tickets at will call the day of the visit.

Entry-Form

Kick Flipper

Disclaimer: This toy was provided in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Additionally, this page may contain affiliate links that help me support my blog at no extra cost to you.

My little girl has fallen desperately in love with rollerblading, only, she's not so good at it so she keeps falling. Even with elbow pads, knee pads, and roller skating gloves, she manages to hurt herself. She isn't exactly the most coordinated, so imagine my horror when she asked for a skate board while we were out shopping. No. Just no. I can't afford that many hospital visit insurance co-pays. Sorry kid. 

But then at Blogger Bash this summer, I saw the PlaSmart Kick Flipper, which is essentially a skateboard without wheels! It's designed to help kids develop balance and coordination and is targeted at kids age 5 to teen, but with it's 200 lb weigh limit, both David and I have had some fun playing on it! And since it's safe to use on grass, sand, or carpet, little ones can safely use it outside or inside!

The Kick Flipper is available from Amazon for $19.99 in both red and blue and is approved by Emmalee as a 2015 Holiday Gift Guide toy!

For more information on Kick Flippers and other amazing PlaSmart toys, check out their different social media links! 

PlasmartToys.com

Facebook  

Twitter 

YouTube

Gift Guide for the Men in Your Life

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links, I may be compensated for purchases made through these links. For more information, click here. 

Sometimes I find that Dave is the hardest person to shop for on my list. He doesn't usually have a list, just some random ideas that he'll mention once and then never again and I'm usually left hoping for a great idea in time! 

As promised, here are 12 great ideas for the men in your life!

Topwell® Wood Watch

Xbox ONE 1TB Console Bundle

Roadtrip Propane Grill

Patriots Tervis Cup

Star Wars Trilogy Boxed Set

Van Der Hagen Men's Luxury Shave Set

Texas Hold 'Em Poker Set

The Craft Beer Cookbook

Cards Against Humanity

Marvel Superhero Socks

Mini Kegerator

Mocassin Slippers

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So, which one is your favorite? Or what are you going to grab for the man in your life?

Holiday Gifts for Moms and Girlfriends

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links, I may be compensated for purchases made through these links. For more information, click here. 

It's finally December which means, there are only 3 more weeks to get your Holiday shopping done, because seriously, who wants to be near any retail store the few days before Christmas?

Even though I've been posting tons of toys as Holiday Gifts, I wanted to do the first gift guide for Moms and Girlfriends, because they're usually the hardest to shop for!

I already know what my Christmas gifts are, a ticket to Type-A Parent East in Disney next October and a new lens for my Nikon, because we always discuss big purchases, even if they are gifts, but I would not be upset if I received any of these other items! ;)

Kate Spade Thermal Mug

Sterling Silver Initial Necklace

Essie LuxEffects Nail Polish

J. Crew Inspired Herringbone Vest

FOSSIL Rose Gold Watch

Kendra Scott Signature 2015 Earrings

Plaid Wrap Scarf 

Kate Spade Medium Jewelry Dish

Tall Hunter Boots

Canon Rebel T5 Camera

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So, which one is your favorite? Or what are you hoping for?
Be sure to come back on Thursday, asI'll be sharing my list of gifts for the men in your lives!

Wubble Ball #GloWubble

Disclaimer: I was provided this product in exchange for my honest review.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This post contains affiliate links, I may be compensated for purchases made through these links. For more information, click here. 

Remember last year when Emmalee received the Wubble Ball? We had a blast with it! She loved how huge it was!

Once again, she got to play with a Wubble Ball, but this time it was the new Glo Wubble!

The big ball is inflated with an enclosed air pump. While it is battery operated, there are no batteries included, so be sure to have some on hand if you want to be able to play right away.  We didn't have any so it was off to the store. Once we had the batteries, it inflated quickly. It gets BIG!

We brought the ball to the basement where it was dark but didn't get any glow, so we weren't sure if it needed to "charge" so we propped it near the window while we enjoyed lunch.  When we brought it down to the basement, it had a bit of a glow, but wasn't as much as we expected, so we propped it up again. After a couple hours in the light/sun, it was really glowing!!

We had a lot of fun bouncing it around in the basement! That is, until it popped, which was entirely our fault, not the balls! It hit a nail that was stuck out partially from one of the studs while we're working on the basement. --sad face--

Emmalee really loved playing with the Wubble Ball and we've already purchased 3 more since!

The entire Wubble brand makes really great, fun gifts for this holiday season!

#ShareTheJoyofPie with Marie Callender's® Dessert Pies!

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #ShareTheJoyOfPie #CollectiveBias

It's November and it's starting to get cold and honestly, I don't like it. Cold means winter and winter means snow and no. Just no thank you.  Last year was the worst winter in Boston's history.  Record breaking snow, missed work, down power lines... welcome to New England...

One of the best parts of last winter was getting to be friends with our new neighbors. Tyler was only 7 months old when the snow hit last year, Emma was only 3!, and with David working it was impossible really, really hard to shovel on my own. After the first big storm, Dave was coming home in the am since he had been stuck at work overnight because of the snow, I looked out the window and our neighbor was in the driveway with the snow blower! How sweet, right? And even more sweet? All he asked for in return was some homemade cookies! My little baker was happy to oblige!

Well, now that it's getting cold again, that means snow... clearly, I hate snow and I wanted to get a jump on the sweets for our sweet neighbor!

While we were at Walmart last week, Dave had a craving for some Apple Pie so we grabbed a Marie Callender's® Dutch Apple Dessert Pie, some Vanilla pudding, and Reddi-Wip®. I decided it wasn't too early to start buttering up our neighbor so I also grabbed a mason jar and some burlap ribbon.

I had an idea. I was going to make a layered, Caramel Apple Pie Parfait that I could gift to him and his wife! Super easy to make and even easier to gift!

Emma was so excited to be able to bake! She especially loved that we got to put the crumb on top of the pie! I LOVE the crumb so I was happily surprised by how much crumb was included and I loved that we got to put it on, rather than having it pre-done, it absolutely made it feel even more homemade!

After baking, we let the pie cool and made vanilla pudding. Emma even has her own pudding making whisk! We ran off to watch Wild Kratts while everything cooled and then assembled the mason jar, starting with a layer of pie, followed by a layer of pudding, and then some caramel.  We did a second set and topped it off with some Reddi-Wip®!

I added some burlap ribbin but it felt like it was missing something, so I hopped on the computer and made a quick little note to add to the top of the jar.

Direct and gets the point across right? Ps. You can totally save the image and print it out yourself to do it! I found that printing it on a a sheet of wallet size photos was perfect for a standard mason jar! 

We wrapped it up and ran across the street, leaving it on the porch railing, right where he'd see it when he got home!

Here's hoping he loved it! Got a neighbor who you'd love to #SharetheJoyofPie with? You can make our dessert or check out a ton more ideas, and coupons, here!

Apple Crisp for Two... Or One!

I think I'm the only "basic white girl" who doesn't love pumpkin, or pumpkin spice, or coffee... I digress. Give me yoga pants, leggings, duck boots, oversized sweatshirts, and plaid infinity scarves and I fit the "basic white girl" bill, except for my un-love of all things pumpkin.  Maybe once in a while I'll light a pumpkin vanilla candle, but that's it.

So when September rolls around I'm in love. September is the holy month of Fall before Pumpkin takes over. As of October 1st, pumpkin is king and the apple disappears, which is not okay with me.
I would eat apple everything all day, like my caramel apple dippers, yum.  But sometimes, I just want some warm apple pie and as a full time working mom, I don't have time to make a full pie every time I want a piece of warm pie.

So I came up with a super easy Apple "pie" for Two, but let's be honest, I eat it by myself a lot.

I use a small Corningware white ceramic dish and cut one large apple into thin slices.
Place in the dish.
In a small bowl, I combine 1/4 cup light brown sugar and 1/4 cup rolled oats.
I melt 2 Tbs of butter and mix it into the sugar and oat mix.
Spoon the mixture over apple slices.
Bake at 350* for 20 minutes or until the apples are soft.
Obviously, enjoy it with a scoop or two of vanilla ice cream.

Life Update - Gallstones and My Dad

Hello there!

It's been quiet here for a bit and with good reason.  My life has just been falling apart. Seriously. The week after going to the beautiful Seacrest Beach Hotel, I had a huge attack at work.  I wasn't sure what caused it but I couldn't breath, stand up, or move without sharp pains radiating through my entire chest, stomach, and back.

I was in the middle of my first class of the day and after the school nurse came down to check on me (benefit of working in a high school), she sent me to Urgent Care since my heart rate was at 122.

I spent 3 days out of work doing blood work, doctor's visits and ultrasounds to finally figure out that I had gallstones and had an attack from that.

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A week later, I got a phone call from my mom that my dad, who had been fighting stage 4 cancer for over a year, was in the hospital again.  His body was having a hard time and was shutting down.  My head was there for the 4 days he was in the hospital and that weekend, he passed away. There's so much more to say but for now, this is all I can put in writing. We spend the next few days preparing to say good bye to him and then said our final good byes.

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The next week, I had to get to work in my classroom.  I was so behind from missing 6 days in less than 3 weeks, that I ignored everything else, had panic attacks every day and forced myself to keep working even though most days I just wanted to curl up and sleep.

It was during this time that the doctors office called to confirm that I needed a gallbladder removal surgery. I have severe anxiety about anything surgical related so this was stressing me out for two weeks. I was a literal mess and other than focusing on helping to host my school's National Honor Society Trunk or Treat the night before Halloween, I wasn't much help to anyone.

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Friday I had my surgery. Now mind you, I had a full blown, crying, panic attack as the anesthesiologist was talking to me about it all because... like I said, anxiety. But everything went well.  The doctor said I was one of his easiest surgeries all week and everything looks good.  I am out of work for a couple more days while I wean myself off the narcotics they gave me for pain and learn how much I can and cannot be on my feet while teaching.  I'm sure there will still be soreness for another week or so but I'm excited to get back into the classroom after being out so much this past month.

The nice thing about being out is that I have gotten ahead on my lesson plans, had time to email companies and have even more fun holiday posts coming up, and now that I feel caught up and normal again, I can get back to my regularly scheduled posting.

I'm happy to be back!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

Welcome Back Barbie

growing up, I loved Barbie.  I had lots and like all other girls, I gave them all haircuts.  

Barbies were a right of passage. You grew up watching your older sisters or cousins playing and you just had to have them too. Barbie was everything- a doctor, an astronaut, a vet... her options were endless.

And then the world decided she was bad. She gave girls an unattainable standard of beauty.  She was unhealthy and giving her to a girl only solidified that the girl should only be skinny, pretty, and on the arm of a handsome man.  For years, she was shunned.

But now, at least for this mom, Barbie is back. Their marketing department killed it with this ad. This is the Barbie I remember. The Barbie who could be anything and do anything, regardless of her body.

My daughter has Barbies, and I will continue to buy her more. In this house we chose to accept Barbie as a role model, the be anything woman who my daughter can grow into, not a body dysmorphic beacon that my daughter will judge her own worth against.

Welcome back Barbie, I've missed you. 

NESTLE Halloween Pudding Cups #Treats4All #ad

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #Treats4All #CollectiveBias

Halloween is almost here which means my life has gotten even more crazy! It is amazing how many Halloween themed events one 4 year old can be invited to. Add in my workload and getting events done for my students, and once again, I'm running to Walmart for quick meals and bags of candy to bring to each event.

We normally grab a Hot N Ready pizza or a rotisserie chicken, but when Emma saw the HOT POCKETS® Pepperoni Pizza Snack Bites, she asked for those instead.  As a mom, I saw all the pizza without the mess-- portable pizza for on the go! 

Walmart makes it super easy to find the candy as well. As soon as I walked into my local Walmart, there were big Happy Halloween signs with arrows pointing right to the candy.  I grabbed a bag of  NESTLÉ® Jumbo Assorted Fun Size Candy bars because they were the only mix with 100 Grand bars-- my favorite! Emma loves "Frunch bars, so it was an easy agreement.  I was only going to get one bag but when I saw Bottle Caps in the WONKA® MIXUPS® Assorted Candy bag, I grabbed that too!

We needed the two bags for a friend's party but obviously had leftovers, which is the best part! While I am all for snacking directly out of the candy bucket, on the couch, while watching television, Emmalee wanted to play chef with the candy so I had to think quick. We had some instant pudding in the cabinet so we quickly made that and let it set while we prepped our "chef plates". I didn't want Emma to overload on candy so she was allowed to pick 3 fun-sized candy bars, and I chopped them up and placed each in its own cupcake liner. 

In the craziness of the day, I realized dinner was quickly approaching so I threw the HOT POCKETS® Pepperoni Pizza Snack Bites into the toaster oven as well.  I set Emma up with her pudding cup while they cooked. She had a blast layering the pudding and candy to make a pattern. As she finished, the HOT POCKETS® Pepperoni Pizza Snack Bites were ready!

So easy and delicious! We put our pudding cups in the fridge while we enjoyed the HOT POCKETS® Pepperoni Pizza Snack Bites. So good! And our dessert was delicious too!

I love when I can make super easy, delicious food with my daughter-- we just love "cooking" together. I'm crossing my fingers for more "left over" Halloween candy so we can make more of these pudding cups!

What type of recipes will you try with these Nestle candy bars?