Mommy Octopus – Page 183 – We can all use a few more hands

Busch Gardens® Tampa’s Christmas Town Returns This Year!

August 14, 2014 By MommyOctopus 1 Comment
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Wow! I had no idea that Busch Gardens offered something special for Christmas. Being a Busch Gardens ambassador this year, I’m learning a ton of new things and am super excited about returning again this year. I think we will definitely plan on taking our trip during the Christmas season! If you are interested in seeing our adventures on our last trip, click here.

Busch Gardens® Tampa’s Christmas Town™ , the Bay area’s biggest Christmas celebration, is returning this year and is now included with any annual pass, Fun Card or daily admission to the park.

“Since 2012, Busch Gardens has offered the ultimate Christmastime experience for families, and we’re excited to continue that tradition again in this year,” said Park President Jim Dean. “And with all of this Christmas fun included with any annual pass, Fun Card or daily admission, all guests receive an even greater value during their visit. We’ve created a season-long celebration unlike any other event our guests have ever seen – the kind of Christmas fun only Busch Gardens can provide.”

This year’s event will transform the park into a nighttime holiday wonderland of wintery surprises and all things Christmas, filling guests’ senses with seasonal sights, sounds and flavors. Guests can look forward to special entertainment, live music, festive treats, holiday shopping and over a million twinkling lights around every turn.

Christmas Town is open 23 select dates from Nov. 28 through Dec. 31. Guests can experience all of the Christmas celebrations throughout the day, and park closing times will range from 8pm to 9pm throughout the event. Visit ChristmasTown.com for dates, times and event details.

Christmas Town will also offer some magnificent new opportunities for groups looking to book a unique holiday party. For details, call the Busch Gardens Events Team at 813-987-5523.

Be the first to know about new events, special deals and future announcements by following the park’s blog at BuschGardensTampaBlog.com, or “Like” the Busch Gardens Facebook page, and follow @buschgardens on Twitter and Instagram.

Best Christmas Ever (Without Spending a Dime!)

August 13, 2014 By MommyOctopus 1 Comment
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Christmas is just a few short months away! Now is the best time to get started on saving! The past 4 years, we were able to pay for Christmas and have our best Christmas ever, without spending any money out of our budget! We already are well on our way to save for Christmas 2014.

Something that my family has always battled with has been trying to afford Christmas presents. It always seems that the holiday season arrives in the midst of chaos, leaving us scrounging around the sofa cushions trying to find money to buy presents for the 4 kids. This year, I have determined that we will not spend one cent buying Christmas presents, but that we will still have an awesome Christmas.

Already, I have over $100 in our Christmas fund from just Opinion Outpost. Opinion Outpost pays CASH for surveys that you complete. You can also refer your friends and get $2 for every friend that you refer! The money adds up quickly and painlessly!

I also am able to earn giftcards and cash from these other survey sites. My recommendation is to join all of them because when you are a member of all, you’re Christmas fund will grow a whole lot faster! Some of them, you’ll even be invited to do product studies. We’ve given our feedback and made money reviewing toothpaste, dog treats, baby wipes, fruit snacks, and more!

Valued Opinions

I am also big on Swagbucks. Swagbucks is a fantastic program. You earn swagbucks from searches that you do using Swagbucks as a search engine. I’ve earned countless Amazon giftcards, Target Giftcards, Starbucks Giftcards, and more, with little effort! Then, I wait until Target or Amazon have something fantastic on sale. You can earn more swagbucks, too, by referring your friends. When you refer someone, each swagbuck that they earn, you also earn, so your points will accumulate very fast!

When you save all year on your survey sites, buy giftcards with your swagbucks, and wait for great sales, you’ll find yourself being able to afford a lot more than you thought was possible. There’s still several months, so start today and see if you can afford a great Christmas without paying anything!

SIMPLE Service Project – Collect Snack Foods to Donate

August 9, 2014 By MommyOctopus Leave a Comment
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When Champions for Kids contacted me recently and their newest Simple Service project, I was really excited to help out. Champions for Kids makes it simple to give children in local communities the resources they need to thrive. Helping others does not have to come in large doses. Champions for Kids seeks to ignite generational change by fostering a ‘habit of giving’ among youth and parents in America.

Did you know that 16 million American children live in poverty? Many of these kids don’t have reliable access to the nutritious snacks that help them thrive and succeed both academically and socially. Throughout the month of August, Champions for Kids is partnering with Dole to encourage community projects across the country benefiting children in need. Called SIMPLE Service Projects, the idea is to host or organize an event to collect snack foods that you would then donate to a local organization that serves children in need, such as a food pantry, after-school program or daycare center.

One local organization that is dear to us is called Food 2 Kids Athens with the Northeast Georgia Food Bank. Food 2 Kids provides food for local children to take home Friday after school to last them through the weekend until they are back at school for breakfast Monday morning. Each month through the year, they focus on collecting one specific food item so they can build up their supply for the children through the year. August and September are peanut butter, October is ravioli (pop top cans), November is juice boxes, and December is granola bars. Everything has to be easily opened by a small child.

It’s easy to organize your own food drive! Simply gather your friends and family together and ask that everyone brings a few snacks for the food bank. You can host a family fun day! When everyone pitches in, you can gather a bunch! Figure out what organizations near you need help and what items they need. Then donate the items you have gathered. Lastly, share your project at championsforkids.org/share

We recently hosted an event and it was easy getting our guests to bring snacks to gather for the food bank! They all thought it was a great idea and it was simple to do! Now we just need to drop it off at the food bank next week!

If you’re looking for ideas of snacks to donate, Dole offers a number of terrific, portable and nutritious snacks perfect for game day, including Dole Fruit Bowls and Dole Fruit Squish’ems.

Dole Fruit Squish’ems squeezable fruit pouches are a delicious and nutritious snack that is just a fun squeeze away. Fruit Squish’ems gives parents an easy way to get more fruit/healthy snacks into their kids’ diets. Each pouch contains 1 Full Serving of All Natural Fruit that has 60 calories and contains 20% daily value of vitamin C. Dole Fruit Squish’ems is made with Fresh Apples only from the USA and have no High Fructose Corn Syrup or any artificial flavors.
Dole Fruit Bowls come in many varieties, including fruit in 100% juice, fruit packed in gel, or fruit with no sugar added. Dole offers lots of choices, such as pineapple, tropical fruit, pears, peaches, apples and more, so there is something for every taste.

Another way to participate is to visit your participating Walmart store between August 4 – August 18 and look for the purple product display and donation bin. Choose back-to-school snacks such as Dole Fruit Squish’ems and Fruit Bowls and donate them right inside the store to help children in your local community!

I participated in this program on behalf of Champions for Kids and The Motherhood. All opinions are my own.

Free Printable Lunch Box Notes

August 8, 2014 By MommyOctopus Leave a Comment
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Even though my kids are homeschooled, we have plenty of days where they pack their lunch and have other outings. I love leaving my kids a little note to let them know that I thought of them while I packed their lunch. I had my sister in law over at Pardon the Mess design some printable lunch box notes that I can stick in their lunches and I’m also offering it up as a free printable for you guys!

Click on the photo below to grab your free download.

This download is for personal use only and not to be sold.

World of Coca-Cola Offers 100+ Beverages From ‘Round the World!

August 1, 2014 By MommyOctopus Leave a Comment
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I recieved a complimentary ticket through the travel campaign with New Creative Media. All opinions expressed are 100% my own. Any additional expenses incurred were my own.

I am at the last leg of the Wyndham Weekend posts. Our final stop was visiting one of our favorite places, The World of Coca-Cola. This is always one of our favorite places in Atlanta to visit. I love watching the movie and seeing all the antique coke items! The World of Coca-Cola has recently changed their new movie, and let me tell you, it brought tears to my eyes! It’s so sweet!

From the movie, we went on to meet the Polar Bear and to venture through all the coke exhibits. Then on to our favorite part! The tasting room! There are over 100 products to choose from! My favorite one is an apple flavored drink and I cannot remember what the name of it is or which country. Sooo good! And everyone has to try Beverly once! Then never again 😉

My little girls enjoyed tasting coke from all over the world! They enjoyed almost everything they tried.

We weren’t able to stay long due to time constraints, but we still had a blast. We sat on the American Idol couch and played with some of the interactive computers. On the way out, you’re given a glass bottle of freshly bottled Coke to bring home. Then you get to walk through the enormous gift shop filled with anything and everything imaginable! Next time we will plan for more time so we can visit the 4d theatre and browse some more!

For more information, visit the World of Coca-Cola Website, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Visit No Mas! Hacienda & Cantina – “The Best of Mexico”

August 1, 2014 By MommyOctopus Leave a Comment
By clicking my links, I may earn a small commission to support this blog. Please see our Disclosure Policy.

I recieved a complimentary meal through the travel campaign with New Creative Media. All opinions expressed are 100% my own. Any additional expenses incurred were my own.

Another place we visited while we were on our Wyndham Weekend, was No Mas! Hacienda & Cantina in Atlanta. Not only do they have a beautiful restaurant, they also have shops and a little bakery as well! When you first step in, it seems like you’ve stepped right into Mexico. Their concept combines the Cantina Restaurant serving classic Mexican favorites & house specialties, and the Hacienda Showroom with an amazing collection of artistic creations from over 350 artisans in Mexico. I think I could have stayed in the shop forever! So many interesting pieces to look at!

The food was great and presented beautifully. Everything had loads of flavor and tasted like authentic Mexican food. I absolutely LOVED my fajitas and my husband enjoyed his swordfish platter. The only concern we had was the size of the children’s meals. It was tiny. The quesidilla was simply that – 2 little pieces of quesidilla and that’s it. My 3 and 5 year olds were okay with it and also munched off our plates, but if we had brought our big kids, they would have been starving.

I loved the chips and salsa. We couldn’t quite figure out what all was in the salsa, but it was sooo good!

If you go by No Mas Cantina, be sure to save room for the desert! We got the brownie sundae that had a little spicy chocolate sauce. I’m sorry, I can’t remember the name of it, but it was sooo good!

Thanks again to No Mas Hacienda & Cantina for hosting the Wyndham Weekends bloggers for the evening. We had a great time and service was fantastic.

For more information or for reservations, visit the No Mas Cantina website, Facebook, or Twitter.

How to be Intentional Saving for Your Children’s Future

July 31, 2014 By MommyOctopus Leave a Comment
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We have 4 kids. It’s hard to save for their future and keep up with the present. We have come up with an idea that works great for our family and I thought it would be perfect to share with the rest of you. This is what we do with our children to be intentional on helping them save for the future.

First up, you need to create a bank account for your child. Each one of our children have a savings account that we opened shortly after their birth. Whenever anyone gives you a cash gift for baby, put it in the bank account. I suggest finding a credit union to create the account. Wherever you decide, be sure and ask tons of questions and make sure there are no fees associated with the account and that they understand it is for a minor.

Next, start planning. With our kids, we found it difficult to make sure we were being intentional about putting money in their accounts. What we have decided is to put a deposit in on their birthday and give according to their age times 10. For example, my middle daughter just turned 5. We put $50 in her account on her birthday. My oldest is turning 11 next week. We will put $110 in her account then. By the time they are 18, they will have $1,710 in their account just from their birthday gifts from mom and dad. That doesn’t count all the money gifts from relatives or what they want to deposit from their future earnings or their jobs done. It’s easier to teach them to save when they have been saving their entire life.

Speaking of birthdays, suggest to family or really good friends that you would like your child to receive money toward their savings instead of gifts. Use your discretion on this one as some family members and friends may be offended by this thought. We’ve explained to our family that our kids get gifts from their friends and we’d rather them save for their future and they understand that. There is certainly no shortage of toys around here or around any child that I’ve seen.

Make going to the bank a fun adventure so that the kids are excited to see the teller take their money and give them a receipt. Show your children how much they have saved and talk about how they are building savings for the future! Talk about their dream house, car, or college. Perhaps even saving for their future family. We tell our kids how we wished we had saved up more and how great it is that they already have more savings than we did when we got married. Plus at some banks, they get a lollipop, so that makes the trip worth it 🙂

Do you have any more tips to add? How does your family save for your children’s future?

High Museum of Art Features Dream Car Exhibition

July 31, 2014 By MommyOctopus Leave a Comment
By clicking my links, I may earn a small commission to support this blog. Please see our Disclosure Policy.

I recieved a complimentary ticket through the travel campaign with New Creative Media. All opinions expressed are 100% my own. Any additional expenses incurred were my own.

I honestly cannot remember the last time I went to the High Museum of Art in Atlanta. I suppose it was most likely when I was in elementary school or something. I don’t know why we have waited so long to go back and why we have never taken our kids, but this is definitely going to be a more frequent visit.

We went to the High Museum of Art during our Wyndham Weekend to check out the Dream Car Exhibition. I’m not quite sure what I was expecting, but it seriously blew me away! Such history and such incredibly designed cars!

I was especially intrigued by the 1936 Stout Scarab. It was the “minivan” of the day. It was designed to even have a table inside and fit larger families.

This ferrari was pretty wild, too. It was so short, but it’s design was amazing. I think we will have to go back with my son. He would LOVE the exhibits. We went with just the little girls on our weekend outing, but I definitely want to take him.

Next to each car, they had a big plaque with tons of information regarding to design and why it was created and why it did or didn’t work at the time. It’s really fascinating to see how cars have evolved and all of the great ideas that people have had.

On Saturdays, the museum also has a craft for kids. You will want to call in advance to see what they will have and what time it is. This time, my girls decorated little pots to grow bean plants.

For more information on the High Museum of Art, check out their website. You can also find them on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

Mini Crustless Quiches

July 28, 2014 By MommyOctopus Leave a Comment
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I’m always trying out new recipes with less carbs and are easy to grab and go for my family. We made these little Mini Crust-Less Quiches the other day and they turned out great! If you are following Trim Healthy Mama, they would be an S meal.These were really simple to make. For starters, you’ll need a bowl, a dozen eggs, and your favorite ingredients. I added onions, ham, and cheese, but you could add mushrooms, peppers, sausage, or whatever you like.

Chop up about 1/4 cup of your ingredients, or a little more if you want extras. Crack open all 12 eggs and mix them into a medium size bowl. Add in your favorite ingredients, but hold out on the cheese.

Add to a VERY well greased cupcake pan. Note, I used cupcake liners for easy cleanup, however this turned out to NOT be a good idea. It was hard to get them off. Next time, I’ll put them right in the pan. Add your cheese right on top. If you prefer, you can mix it in, however I just had block cheese and decided on the easy route of just slicing some on top.

Bake at 350 for about 50 minutes. Enjoy!

Mini Crustless Quiches

Serves: 12

Ingredients

1 dozen eggs
1/4 cup chopped ham
1/4 cup chopped onion
4 oz cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Mix together first three ingredients
Pour in a well greased cupcake pan, dividing evenly. Make each quiche about 2/3 the way full.
Add cheese on top
Bake at 350 for 50 minutes.
Enjoy!
Leftovers need to be put in the fridge and can be heated up for 45 seconds.

Tour Famous Television and Film Sites With the Southern Hollywood Film Tour!

July 25, 2014 By MommyOctopus Leave a Comment
By clicking my links, I may earn a small commission to support this blog. Please see our Disclosure Policy.

I recieved a complimentary ticket through the travel campaign with New Creative Media. All opinions expressed are 100% my own. Any additional expenses incurred were my own.

A few days ago I told you about our stay in the Wyndham Peachtree Conference Center. During our stay, we ventured out to local activities including the Southern Hollywood Film Tour.

The Southern Hollywood Film Tour is offered by The Peachtree City Convention and Visitors Bureau. We were taken by van through the cities of Peachree City and Senoia. Throughout our tour, we were taken around the city and shown scenes from popular movies such as Fried Green Tomatoes, Sweet Home Alabama, and Joyful Noise. Several popular TV shows were also filmed in the area such as Drop Dead Diva and The Walking Dead.

Our guide, John, was very knowledgable about the area. He happily answered any questions that we had and pointed out sights along the way. First up, we visited The Fred, which is the local Peachtree City amphitheater. It is used in their summer concert series and also in the Joyful Noise movie.

My favorite part of the tour was seeing the beautiful Starrs Mill, which was featured in Sweet Home Alabama. It is absolutely gorgeous! While we were out there, several photographers were as well, shooting photos. There was a beautiful river that ran along behind it.

We also ventured around Senoia and saw one of the houses in Fried Green Tomatoes. It’s such a pretty house in a peaceful area.

Next we were shown fences that were being put up for a new Walking Dead scene. I admit, we have never seen the show, but it was kinda neat seeing stuff that other people were excited about. The Walking Dead is being filmed by Raleigh Studios in Senoia. After the tour, the driver dropped us off in Senoia so some of the tourists could visit The Official Walking Dead Store and so we could walk where Driving Miss Daisy was filmed. We walked around town a bit and then decided to stop by to see what all the fuss was about. We didn’t stay long, but took a few pictures to share with you guys.

In the Official Walking Dead Store, there was a couple jail cells that you could stand in for photos. There was also a set of doors chained together that said “DONT OPEN DEAD INSIDE”. Also displayed were several posters, writings on the walls from cast members, a motorcycle, and some full size cutouts of characters. Sorry I can’t elaborate more, I am very unfamiliar with the show.

After we left that store, we decided to try out some of the local foods. We visited Main Street Fudge & Ice Cream and tried their Deep Fried Oreos. Yes you read that right! Deep Fried Oreos! YUM! I definitely recommend stopping here if you go on the tour.

We were very thankful for this opportunity to see where some great actors have been and where movies were made. If you’re ever in the area, be sure to check out the Southern Hollywood Film Tour. I’m sure you’ll have as much fun as we did!