Ready to discover a whole new world of plush animal friends? Love something different and unique?
Then you will fall in love with the Cutetitos and their little friends, the Babitos.
I think we can all agree, babies and animals are so cute when they are all wrapped and snuggly inside a blanket. We used to joke that we were wrapping up our kids tight and snug, just like a burrito when they were infants (especially our eldest who was quite colicky).
These adorable plush animals will tuck at your heart strings with their burrito style design. The Cutetitos animals are wrapped up in a blanket to resemble little burritos. The burrito theme is present throughout the whole unwrapping – from the foil wrap on the bottom to the design of the actual wrap (it even has little toasted spots on it).
Each Cutetito is a surprise and your child will be able to unwrap their new friend to uncover their identity. There are twelve in total to collect and (my favourite part) each one has their own level of spiciness – will they have a mild, medium or hot personality? Each pet comes with their own collector card that gives all of these details and more.
The plush animals that you can collect include (just take a minute to appreciate how cute the names are):
Cattito
Bearito
Monkito
Piggito
Slothito
Puppito
Bunnito
Our adorable little friends come with adorable friends in an even smaller package – Babitos! The Babitos are stuffed inside a taco shell and are roughly the size of the palm of your hand.
They also come in twelve collectible styles, which includes Puppito, Duckito, Raccoonito, Skunikto and also have their own spicy personality that ranges from mild to super spicy. These adorable little baby animals even have their own special gender reveal.
My favourite part of this collection is how precious the eyes are on these plush animals. They are just too precious for words with those big, loving eyes!
Both the Cutetitos and Babitos can be purchased at Toys R Us, Walmart and Chapters Indigo. Prices range from $9.99 CDN to $16.99 CDN.
The Cutetitos and Babitos will make the perfect surprise gift for the young child in your life who loves plush animals. I know my niece LOVES them! Make sure you stock up before they sell out during all the pre-holiday season shopping.
We have definitely had a few early blasts of winter weather as the holiday season quickly approaches. This is the perfect time to open up some holiday treasured books with your children and spend a little extra time reading each night. Or perhaps to even discover new family favourites leading up to the Christmas holidays?
Raincoast Books has a beautiful collection of books that will make great gifts leading up to the holidays or even as a special gift under the tree. Both my kids and their cousins, always receive at least one special book as a Christmas gift because I feel so strongly that these are something that they can treasure long after the holiday season is over.
Looking for three new books to add to your holiday reading routine? Look no further then these top three picks from Raincoast Books:
Christmas Is Coming! An Advent Book
Every day of December brings a new Christmas tradition in this keepsake Advent book. Each flap on the cover of the book reveals a clue to a festive activity that can be found inside the pages. It might be a recipe for a delicious homemade treat, instructions for a cozy craft, a game to play, a carol to sing, or a beautifully illustrated story to read with the whole family. This inviting twist on the traditional advent calendar is perfect for families who love to put their own spin on celebrating the holidays.
I fell in love with this special book the moment I laid my eyes on it. Advent is a very special time in our lives and sometimes we can forget what makes life so important; family and opening our homes and hearts for Christmas. There is more to Advent than just chocolate and presents!
I put this book under our Christmas tree and we waited patiently for December 1st to open it up. This was not the easiest task for any of us, as I really wanted to dive in and see what kind of activities were in the book but we also wanted it to be a special surprise that we uncovered day by day.
We had a snowstorm yesterday and decided that we would open the book after dinner. His first activity? Write a letter to Santa. The reading for December 1st was beautiful and my son was excited to write his letter (I couldn’t believe I had not done this yet with him!). We have decided as a family, that we would do each activity after dinner but before we wind down for bed. You can follow along on Instagram as we work our way through the book.
This is the perfect book for parents and grandparents that are looking for something different and meaningful during the Advent season.
Go on a festive and fun-filled adventure with Larry in this hilarious holiday edition of the USA Today bestselling series, Don’t Push the Button!
Larry (the lovable monster) has received a present, and he is desperate to know what is inside, but he needs your help to figure it out. But whatever you do. . . DON’T SHAKE THE PRESENT!
This is an adorable book perfect for young readers just before the holiday season. We have two kids that love to touch and shake their presents (and even sometimes peel away the wrapping at the side so that they can see inside!). We had so much fun reading this out loud and I definitely did not see the ending coming but it was perfect and gave us all a great chuckle.
The book itself is small, hard covered and interactive, making it a great read for young children that have a harder time sitting still at reading time. It also is a book that children can relate to and helps parents explain the importance of patience during the holiday season.
Iris and her lion go everywhere together. But when Christmas comes and the family is going away, Mom says her lion must stay behind. After all, you can’t take a lion on a train! Luckily the lion has other ideas. He sets off on a festive, snowy adventure to find Iris – and almost bumps into Santa Claus!
This is a beautifully written and illustrated book about the friendship between Iris and her lion in the context of Christmas. Iris is visiting family for the holidays and her lion is just too big to go on the train (or even to fit in her suitcase!), not to mention he may just scare her family. Her Mom makes the lion stay home, but lion has other plans – he follows them on the train! The only problem, he sleeps through their stop! He must find his way back to Iris (which he does) but encounters a unique method of finding her using Santa Claus’ method of climbing up and down chimneys. Can you imagine a lion coming down the chimney?
This was a great book to read out loud to our kids. It has such a great flow and full of great age appropriate humour. We had a few great conversations of all the animals we wished we could have at home (a gorilla was one). The illustrations are beautiful and fit the story perfectly. This will make for a great read before bedtime as we gear up into the holiday season.
Don’t miss the latest novel by award winning author of The Mallard Conspiracy!
About Jeanne
At dawn on a sweltering summer day scrabbling sounds alerted Jeanne of the intruder downstairs. The pull chain rattled against the light bulb in the kitchen. Instantly a sliver of yellow light raced up the stairs and into her bedroom. Someone was moving about inside the house, and had even been bold enough to turn on a light. It wasn’t the first time she’d awakened to the sounds of this intruder.
Sylvia Hornback received her Doctorate of Education Administration from Texas A&M University. She is the current Chair of the Board of Directors for ENERGY Worldnet, Inc., and served as an educator, principal and school superintendent for over two decades. Among her many accolades, she was recognized as a National Blue Ribbon School Principal by the U.S. Secretary of Education. For the past ten years, she has served as a Bible study teacher at First United Methodist Church near her home in Decatur, Texas. Her first novel, The Mallard Conspiracy, was published last year.
Learn the importance of friendship, never giving up and acceptance in Three Paws.
About Three Paws
An Alaskan grizzly bear cub survives a tragic accident, leaving him with one limp paw. But despite his physical challenge, his dream of becoming a great salmon catcher spurs him to take personal risks as he befriends an injured billy goat. Boots, the bear cub, will do anything necessary to accomplish his dream. When the injured goat offers a promise of possibilities in the hopes that Boots will not eat him, the three-pawed cub must face unexpected consequences. Can Boots trust the goat to deliver on his promise? The surprise ending will even surprise you!
Our Thoughts
In Three Paws, the brave, adventurous Boots hurts his front paw – damaging the bones and making it impossible to use. He does this doing something his Mom warned him not to do (aww the joys of having kids!). All he wanted to do was prove that he was brave and the best salmon catcher, now he begins to doubt whether he will ever be able to catch salmon again. He lets his fear bother him internally, until he meets a goat who was also injured during a fall. Boots helps the goat and in return, the goat helps him to realize that you don’t need four paws to be the best salmon catcher if you can think outside of the box. He does so despite the doubts of the other cubs.
This is a beautiful story from start to finish of a young bear who faces a situation that could harm him (not being able to use his paw to fish, could cause starvation and death for the young cub) and when he shows another animal compassion, he learns a very valuable lesson. The goat (an unlikely friend and hero), shows him how to live again, to gain confidence and to think outside of the box. In the face of a great challenge, Boots shows strength and courage while earning a new friend.
This is a great book for young children with that important reminder that we can do anything we set our mind to – nothing is out of our reach if we are willing to think differently and work hard. A fantastic story from start to finish that you will enjoy reading with your child.
Karen Struck discovered the joy of children’s literature as she read to her daughter each night. She was inspired by the Harry Potter book series and decided to take writing courses through the Institute of Children’s Literature. Three Paws is the first book published in the Three Paws Series.
Karen is a registered nurse and works in the aesthetic industry, performing laser treatments combined with injectables for skin rejuvenation. She works with her husband, Steve, a plastic surgeon in Atherton, California. They live in Los Gatos, California. She has a daughter named Rachel and two stepchildren, Danni and Evan Struck.
My favourite memories as a child and teenager were spent in the kitchen cooking with my Dad. I loved the holidays as we would prepare cannelloni, lasagna, veal and all types of desserts. I would spend half my time helping prepare the meals and the other half eating the ingredients (cannelloni stuffing is still my favourite – all of that delicious spinach and cheese goodness).
Good food and family were the two most important things we had growing up in our home. They were the centre of every happy, fun moment and especially around the holiday season. This is the gift I want to give my own kids – family and good food.
The one thing I always wished I learned how to do in my youth? Make bread.
There is nothing better then fresh, warm bread to accompany your meal (it is like a giant hug on a bad day). We always had a loaf of bread with every meal and I was always the first to volunteer to go pick one up at the bakery (I loved the smell and how the bag would just heat up). Not to mention, bread is the best way to clean up those dirty sauce pots over the holidays!
My only problem? I have been incapable of making bread from scratch – it doesn’t rise, it is still uncooked after it is finished cooking in the oven or it is rock solid. After many failed attempts, I gave up (my pride couldn’t handle the bad loaves and the teasing from the kids).
The Hamilton Beach Premium Dough and Bread maker is on the bigger size but it does tuck away perfectly in our pantry closet, although I tend to leave it on my counter as it fits right in the corner. It has a beautiful, sleek stainless steel design so it can match any kitchen decor and will fit in with your other appliances.
The bread maker looks intimidating at first but it is actually very simple to use. You adjust each setting with the turn of the dial (which for me was the hardest part to learn) – making changes for the type of bread, loaf size and the crust colour (light, medium or dark). Once you have added all of your ingredients, adjusted the settings – it does the rest for you. You can literally just step away and enjoy the smell of the bread rising, warming and baking.
The clean up? Surprisingly very simple. My husband teased me a bit thinking that the machine would be messy on the inside but I could clean the inside with a paper towel. There was no sticky dough left in the machine (similar to when you make the bread by hand) and the pan that contains the ingredients was simple to wash in the sink. Nothing stuck to any of the parts, except for a bit of dry crust on the mixer piece.
Hamilton Beach has a great selection of recipes on their website – we have been using the French bread and Italian Parmesan recipes. Both have become huge hits in our home and take roughly three to four hours to bake with roughly a five minute prep time. So no excuses for not being able to make fresh bread, you can whip those ingredients out and have them in the machine in five to ten minutes.
The bread always came out perfectly, despite being paranoid the whole time that it wouldn’t work. The first time we made the french bread we realized we didn’t like the recommended crust colour (it came out a bit harder, which I know french bread can be but my kids like their bread softer) so the next time we went for a medium and it was perfect. Be careful when you are removing the pan from the machine, it gets very hot! I burnt the edge of my finger on the fourth time, but everyone was so excited to snag a piece of bread that they didn’t notice I hurt myself (no worries, it didn’t even blister!).
The bread maker made it possible for us to enjoy delicious home made bread with minimal effort, mess and clean up. Every recipe came out exactly as expected and added that missing piece from my childhood.
Do you have a baker in the family? This would make a perfect gift for the holiday season for them. The machine is roughly $149 Canadian, you can find more details on their website here.
Make sure to follow Hamilton Beach on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to keep up to date with the latest recipes and products!
Disclosure: I received the above mentioned product in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.
