May 25, 2015
Create Your Own Minion Friends with Kinder Canada
Bee Do! Bee Do! Bee Do!
The famous minions are back and this time you can find them in Kinder chocolates!! Po ka?? (English translation from the Banana Language: What??).
Yes, you heard that right – in your favourite Kinder chocolates. Throughout this month, you can find these adorable little minions in store, in specially marked packages.
I was on the hunt for these packages for the last three weeks and I finally scored some at Walmart this past weekend. My boys and I decided to have a little bit of fun with our new minions by creating a league of minions out of all the spare Kinder capsules we keep in the home (they are the perfect storage for change!).
For this craft you will need:
- Kinder capsules
- blue and purple paint
- black permanent marker
- blue circular stickers
Directions:
Paint the bottom half of the capsules blue and leave upside down to dry. The ‘evil’ minions you will have to paint half of the capsule purple.
Once they are dry, use the permanent marker to add in the eyes, goggles and hair.
Add the stickers to the centre of their pants. We chose one of the minions to hold a heart and another to wear a flower in his hair (hence the sad face!).
And voila! A league of your own personal minions!
Our son set them up with his Minion toys in the living room and created his own ‘battle’ scenes. We had so much fun playing around with them.
Make sure you are following Kinder Canada on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to keep up to date with this newest collection, fun giveaways and more!
Have you found the Minion collection in store? Out of the eleven available characters, how many have you collected?
Poopaye! Goodbye!
Disclosure: I am a KinderMom and receive perks associated with this affiliation. All opinions expressed are my own.
May 25, 2015
Never Say No: Raising Big Picture Kids
Mark and Jan Foreman are frequently asked how did you raise your kids and their answer? Never Say No!
About Never Say No: Raising Big Picture Kids
Mark and Jan Foreman’s sons, Jon and Tim Foreman, have influenced their world not only with a successful music career but also through their positive impact in communities around the world. The Foreman parents instilled in their boys a belief that they can make a difference by living beyond themselves.
This book gives readers an inside look into how to do this. This process begins with both parent and child identifying themselves in God. It then explores practical ways to encourage holistic learning while cultivating gifts, nurturing creativity and balancing structure. Parents will find encouragement and strength.
My Thoughts
Do not let the title of this book fool you! It is so much more than what you first assume, I honestly thought it would be about letting the child run the home and freedom,etc. I could not have been more wrong!
This is a different parenting guide to ones I have read in the past and reads more like a tool to be put into practice immediately. It is a guide, tool, self-reflection and memoir all rolled into one. They let us into their own lives to show what works and what doesn’t. I love how the book opens with the story of changing how often we say no to our kids when they want our attention. Without meaning to, I was doing this to my own children because I had to get dinner on the table or clean up a mess. It helped me to take a step back and see this from my children’s eyes and it was very eye-opening for me.
I love how they share that our children take their cues from us and are constantly watching what we do. We need to show them and model for them the right behaviour. We need to live the lifestyle we want our child to life.
This is a fantastic resource for all parents, not only those who may be currently struggling in their role. It is a book to come back to, underline and memorize over and over again.
You can find more reviews of Never Say No on the Litfuse blog tour page here. You can purchase a copy of the book here.
Rating: 5/5
About the Authors
Jan and Mark live in the San Diego area, where Mark is the lead pastor at their parish. Together they love surfing, teaching, sailing, traveling and being with their families.
Disclosure: I received a digital copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.
May 25, 2015
Car Care 101: Preparing Your Car for the Summer
The warmer weather has finally arrived! The return of the summer also brings with it fishing trips, beach days and road trips. While we begin to plan out our summer adventures it is important to remember to prepare your car before all the fun begins!
Here are some helpful tips to prepare your car for the summer season:
Service your vehicle!
This is one area that I know a lot of people personally forget to do and I get it, it is easy to forget to book these appointments when you are booking three to six months in the future. It is important to make sure you are keeping up to date with your oil changes and services. Before you leave on any road trips, check your oil fluid. If you don’t know how to do this, either have someone teach you or make sure you have it checked by someone who is familiar with this process (for me, it is my husband that does this as I just can never remember how to check the fluid). Top up your windshield washer fluid and maybe think about storing an extra bottle in your trunk.
Remove Unnecessary Items from Your Car
Make sure you don’t clutter your car with unnecessary accessories from the winter including your car brush (which as I am writing this I know mine is sitting in the trunk of my car). Remove any extra salt that you may be keeping in your trunk. Clean out the inside of your car, removing toys, coffee cups, sippy cups and all the fun stuff that collects over the winter in your back seat. Try to leave as few items in your car as possible that are not tied down, as these items can become dangerous if you were ever to be involved in an accident.
Update Your Emergency Kits & First Aid Kits
Take out your emergency and first aid kits, check them for missing items and update them for the summer months. For our car that means adding in Reactine, Benadryl and AfterBite (you have to love extreme seasonal allergies!). You may want to include sunscreen and extra hats.
Organize, Organize!
Clutter stresses me out, I can’t stand looking at it (even if it is not my own mess!), I just feel like I need to rearrange the items. Trunk space should be viewed as the same, it is important to keep the area tidy and organized (if only for your own sanity!). You can pick up easy items from the Dollar Store to help organize your trunk space.
Ensure You Have the Insurance Coverage You Need
I can not stress the importance of having up to date insurance that is reflective of your current needs. If you don’t understand your policy, have the company review it with you. You don’t want to find out in an emergency that you don’t have appropriate car coverage. Don’t settle for your insurance rates, make sure you shop around for the best deal. If you have a good record, your rates should be reflective of this. You can now get an instant quote from Lowest Rates from the top Canadian insurance companies ensuring you are getting a top rate that is reflective of your driving records. You can use this to decide whether or not it would be financially wise to stay with your current company or make a switch.
Now that your car is prepared for the summer months, you can hit the road with confidence that you will be riding in a safe car that is fully protected!
How do you prepare for your summer travelling?
May 22, 2015
A Journey of Music and Story-Telling in Peter and the Starcatcher
“When I was a boy, I wished I could fly” – Peter and the Starcatcher
The Shaw Festival is ready to take you on an exciting adventure, through battles and finally to the magical island that will become the famous, Neverland!
Peter and the Starcatcher is based on the 2004 novel by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson and tells the story of what happened before JM Barrie’s novel Peter and Wendy. Before he becomes Peter Pan, Peter sails out from London on a ship with an undetermined destination. He is just one of three terrified and lonely orphans. When the ship’s precious cargo, a trunk of star-dust, causes a battle between the British Empire, the pirates, the ship’s captain and a girl named Molly lead the boy into adventure. The battle ends with everyone being stuck on Mollusk Island. With the help of Molly’s nanny and the other orphans, Molly and Peter fight to keep the star-dust safe.
The play was produced in 2012 and went on to win five Tony Awards delighting audiences old and new. The play is recommended for ages eight years and up and has a total running time of two hours and thirty minutes with one intermission.
The Shaw Festival wants to give one of you the chance to witness this magical journey live on the Royal George stage! My Canadian residents can now enter to win a pair of tickets to the live show using the Rafflecopter form below. Accommodation and transportation are not provided so please keep that in mind when entering, the date will be determined (the show runs from May until November). Good luck!
Disclosure: I received a set of tickets to attend this event. All opinions expressed are my own.
May 21, 2015
Celebrating Our Unique Family with Netflix #StreamTeam
When my husband and I were married, we joined two very different cultures and backgrounds: Italian and Zimbabwean. Over the years this has meant adjusting to different attitudes towards aspects of the home, meals and even language! I still remember driving the car with my husband and him yelling at me to pay attention to the robots. So of course I looked around the intersection scanning for robots, but what he meant by robots was the traffic lights (oops!).
Eleven years and two children later, we are still growing stronger, becoming accustomed to each others cultures and preferences and blending this into our children. Our children attempt to talk like their Daddy (with the accent) and use his unique words. The only thing I can’t quite get used to is some of the food items he loves! I dislike meat on a bone (don’t ask it is truly a personal thing that even I don’t understand!) and he loves his meat (ox tail!).
Each family is unique in their own way and while our family brings to it a blended culture many other families bring their own twist on the traditional nuclear family – think same-sex parents and step families. There is no longer the ideal perfect family and this is what makes each family perfect in their own unique way.
Netflix is celebrating your unique family this month with some popular hit shows that includes: Party of Five, Raising Hope, Gilmore Girls and the Fresh Prince of Bel Air.
For the younger kids, Netflix celebrates their uniqueness with films that include: Alvin and the Chipmunks, Despicable Me, Mr. Peabody and Sherman.
What makes your family unique? How do you embrace this uniqueness?
Disclosure: I am a Netflix #StreamTeam member and receive perks associated with this affiliation. All opinions expressed are my own.
