Thanksgiving night and the day after, what is a family to do. Traditionally families load into the car and head off to the movies. Two hours of silent,entertainment, eating butter saturated, salty goodness in popcorn and drinking high fructose corn syrup drinks. Sounds fabulous to add to the already plump Thanksgiving meal. Why not veer off from the norm and play games!
Experience the fun and excitement of the popular TV show right in your own living room!
This time you’re playing with larger-than-life pieces in re-imagined versions of your favorite Hasbro games. CONNECT 4 Basketball is more fun than ever as you shoot hoops to get 4 balls in a row and YAHTZEE! Bowling puts a whole new spin on the popular dice game. You’ll also find fun new versions of SCRABBLE Flash, SORRY! Sliders, and BOP-IT Boptagon, and win MONOPOLY Crazy Cash, just like the game show! Play with friends and family and compete to prove your family is the best!
Not to mention you are burning off your overstuffed dinner and enjoying quality time as a family. We played Family Game Night 4 on our Wii and got the entire family up and jumping around to the excitement of playing a childhood favorite, Connect 4. Everyone was vying to win that game so then we moved on to basketball to really get the blood flowing and burn off the remnants of some pie and green bean casserole.
The kids were having a blast, jumping around, half screams….well full screams of joy and excitement as we all played for a family game night rather than heading off to the movies like everyone else. Family Game Night 4 is available on all platforms just in time for the holiday season, find it for Wii, Playstation and XBOX for hours of fun, laughs, and at times some heated competition. Give the gift of fun and family for any and every member of your family. Find Family Game Night 4 at your local retailers this holiday season to get your family together.
“Disclosure: I was provided with a copy of Family Game Night 4 at no cost in order to test the products’ abilities and give my own personal opinions on it. The opinions I have given are mine and may differ from others but were not influenced by the company or the free product provided.â€
This past Friday was the kickoff to the holiday season here in Phoenix. Not an official kickoff with ribbons and hoopla and hullabaloo, but a kickoff in the grand scheme of over seven million twinkling LED Christmas lights celebrating the wonderful season that truly commences this Thursday.
Twinkling, glowing, flashing, dancing, and blinking in over a one mile maze of wonder for children to gaze their eyes upon each and every holiday season are beautiful Christmas lights. In the west Valley of Phoenix metro is a local farm that hosts these now eco-friendly LED beauties to share in the spirit of the holiday season and to give back to the community on a truly astounding level. Â Friday night was the official opening night for the Arizona Celebration of Lights for the VIP members of the media here in Phoenix and I was so thrilled to attend as a member to be among the staff of 12News and AZCentral. Not only to share the Christmas lights with my kids, but to also here more about how the Arizona Celebration of Lights has touched our community.
Thanks to generous sponsors like Sheely Farms who give up their farm for the wonderful production of glowing lights and the drive through traffic to enjoy the joyous event. Other generous sponsors such as PostNet, 12News, Channel 3, 99.9 KEZ, Holiday Inn Suites and Holiday Inn Express, Jamba Juice and Chik-Fil-A to name a few. With the help of the sponsors, proceeds from visiting the Arizona Celebration of Lights park where admission is $15 per vehicle Monday through Thursday 6-9pm and $20 Friday through Sunday 6-10pm, go to heartfelt organizations such as Salvation Army, St. Mary’s Food Bank, and Ronald McDonald House of Phoenix. Get $2 off as well by bringing in a bag, with a minimum of (3), canned goods to be donated to the food bank and families in need.
While listening to the presentation about the 14 year history here in Arizona I was pleased to hear about all the organizations that will receive proceeds from the event. The boost in local economy is tremendous in a devastating recession, but the truth is that these organizations are in great need as are the people they serve and as we come into the spirit of sharing, gratitude, and giving we should remember to give where we can. I was tweeting up a storm on Twitter that night in order to retain all the information to memory about how our non-profits will profit our local families and community members. This year alone St. Mary’s Food Bank of Arizona donated over 400,000 food boxes to local families in need, that is over 72 million pounds of food! Where in years past they doled out only half that, and this year is the first year the food bank has seen a decline in donations. So now even more we should give , if just for the receipt of a small discount while driving through the park, every little bit helps to donate to the food banks to help local families who are not as fortunate.
Moreover are the families of the children who travel to be at Phoenix Children’s Hospital for care and sought treatment and their families sought refuge and relief with Ronald McDonald house while in the care of the loving staff of Phoenix Children’s Hospital, where Ronald McDonald House Charities housed over 1900 families so far this year and the year is not yet over!
Everyone enjoys beautiful, seasonal Christmas lights and we should love them even more knowing that the lights help our local communities and families like ours each day the park is open this holiday season.
My kids were loving the event on top of me getting my philanthropic fill of goodness to make me want to do more. They were antsy and chomping at the bit to get back in the car and see all the lights. But in the meantime we took photos next to the tree, and with the Chik-Fil-A cow! When we arrived at the park we were immediately greeted by a glowing tunnel of beauty and the cool evening air where we rolled down the windows to really take in the spirit of the season and the magic this time of year brings. Christmas music playing across the pretuned radio station as we drove along the path to Santa’s Village where the kids could get out and play.
http://www.azcentral.com/ – Photo by Ryan Ruiz
How can so much fun be so rewarding on so many levels. If you have the opportunity, the drive is well worth seeing the fun the kids will partake with seeing the lights and taking at pit stop at Santa’s Village, and to share in the season of giving and sharing with your family and other families. If coming from the east valley, head over to I-10 and head West to 99th Avenue exit and go right for about a mile and a half and you will see all the signs and lights. But if you cannot get out that way, view a few of the videos on You Tube of the fun lights on display, or “like” the Arizona Celebration of Lights page on Facebook where you can see other great videos and photos.
Animated Christmas Lights Display Arizona Celebration of Lights
Wishing everyone the happiest and safe holiday season.
Big thanks to the staff at AZCentral for the photos and an ever generous and speechless thank you to the folks at Miller Davis Agency who put together and promoted a wonderful event, the generosity and kindness of Mike Miller, thank you for you time that evening Mike, and affording me and my family the opportunity to get a sneak peak before the park opened to the public and to share what the Arizona Celebration of Lights is all about.
Are your kids losing their belongings at school or friends or functions? No matter how you try to identify their items, with no slip, no peel stickers with their names, permanent marker which can bleed and end up ruining your clothes or items. Now there is a great new product to help identify your children’s items or identify them and their special needs. Zippies.
Zippies are a fun collectible ID tag for your children. Attach them to their back packs, water bottles, lunch boxes, bikes, and winter jackets, you can even attach the labels to indentify if your child has an special allergies or health conditions without having them feel out of place or too old for their age.
We like them in our house to help identify the many toys the kids share that are the same or similar. This helps to eliminate fights and they are able to identify what are their items and learn to respect each others space and personal belongings. Additionally when in a large group or at events with people more than just our family you can clip the Zippies on a bottle of water or drink to help identify what is theirs and prevent the spread of germs by mistakenly taking someone else’s water bottle and or drink.
What is questionable about the Zippies is the construction. The chain that attaches to the ring which attaches to the adjustable zip line. The chain appears and feels like it can snap at any moment and if you are dealing with kids, we know how they can destroy anything in a matter of seconds, literally they have nothing on Hiroshima or Nagasaki. The plastic Zippie face mold is great and as smooth plastic which seems to stand up to a lot of wear and tear, but again can it withstand the smoldering Arizona summers and heat when kids toss their backpacks in the sun waiting for the bus, parents to pick them up, or while on the playground. I even questioned the use of them on bikes with the breakdown of the extreme heat and dry weather. So more to come on how these products can stand up to the test.
Overall a great product and the kids love them. Lots of fun to use and collect and make great stocking stuffers. For the holidays Zippies has special holiday pricing of buy one set for $12.99 and get another set for free. Normally $39.99 a set this is a savings of over 80% off the retail value! You get the original 10 Zippies plus another 10. Buy yours online just in time for the holidays and help spread the collectible fun with Zippies.
“Disclosure: I was provided with Zippies at no cost in order to test the products’ abilities and give my own personal opinions on it. The opinions I have given are mine and may differ from others but were not influenced by the company or the free product provided.â€
Education is an intricate part of any child’s upbringing. From the day our children arrive out of the womb we are educating them; educating them on how to eat, walk, and talk. In addition to walking and talking we like to teach our children to read or have the want to read at an early age. We teach them through songs, reading books to them and as our children grow older, they become more interested in the television and the various shows available to them to watch.
But sometimes as busy parents we do not always censor what our children watch and or learn on TV. I have been a fan of PBS since I was a young child and watched Sesame Street as my learning platform. Now PBS has an even extended platform of various learning programs for all the different learning styles and the ages that watch their shows.
My kids have recently become huge fans of PBS television shows like Sesame Street and recently I was introduced to Mother Goose Club. Featured on PBS stations, the Mother Goose Club is a series of 1-minute educational programs for preschoolers promoting early literacy. This live-action and colorful program, invites your little one to sing and dance along to their favorite nursery rhymes. Early childhood research has shown that familiarity with nursery rhymes helps young children learn to read and my kids have an amazing memory and enjoy the songs and rhymes.
They watched the DVD and listened to all the CD’s non-stop. In the car, in the house, they couldn’t get enough singing, nursery rhymes and fun playing with each other. I found my daughter, while she was coloring at the table, singing her nursery rhymes and my heart was warmed at how much she enjoyed the Mother Goose Club Super Pack.
Why Nursery Rhymes Matter
Helping Children Read. Nursery rhymes help children learn to read. Research has shown that familiarity with Mother Goose and other nursery rhymes helps children develop pre-reading skills, including the ability to detect rhymes. Children who can recognize rhyming words, cat and hat for example, learn to read quicker and more successfully than their peers. This relationship holds true regardless of a child’s socio-economic background or the education level of the parents.
How Do Nursery Rhymes Help? Nursery rhymes are short and rhythmic, which makes them easy for children to learn and memorize. As children hear, sing or read nursery rhymes, they develop “phonemic awareness†or the ability to detect the individual sounds that make up words, a crucial first step in learning to read. Nursery rhymes, especially Mother Goose rhymes, also introduce children to new vocabulary which increases comprehension and benefits learning in all subjects. Most importantly, nursery rhymes are full of colorful characters and stories, which make them fun. The delight children experience as they engage in rhyme activities fosters an enduring enthusiasm for books and reading.
How Mother Goose Can Help Parents. Nursery rhymes are terrific tools for parents and teachers to help get young children ready to read. Spending a few minutes each day reading or singing nursery rhymes with a child is a simple, cost-effective and enjoyable way to promote early literacy at home. The Mother Goose Club website contains a collection of rhymes, including many Mother Goose rhymes, with illustrations, audio narrations, songs and printable coloring pages. Some live action and animated videos are also available. For parents and teachers, the site offers activities and tips on using rhymes to promote literacy at home and at school (Sockeye Media LLC, 2011).
In addition to the shows, books, CD’s are also available, not to mention some online printable sheets for your children to color and have the lyrics readily available for them to learn to read and sing along to. You can purchase all the various Mother Goose Club CD’s, books, DVD’s and coloring books online at the Mother Goose Club store. All items are an average price of $20 which makes this learning gift a wonderful item for your children this year at the holidays or any time of the year. Share in all your children’s favorite nursery rhymes with this wonderful, educational gift.
Are your kids still reeling from the Halloween candy? Maybe they are suffering from a bit of a candy hangover per se. Well maybe the cure or the better option for next year’s Halloween candy option is Honest Kids from the makers of Honest Tea.
Honest Tea has a new line of organic, no high fructose corn syrup, low-sugar, fruit-flavored drinks that are sure to satisfy any sweet tooth craving. Not to mention the good for you option with these drinks not being overloaded with sugary sweetness and the guilt of high fructose corn syrup.
My kids love the Honest Tea kids line of drinks with the light, sweet fruit flavors that quench their thirst and I can feel guilt free about them drinking them. Made with all organic ingredients, natural flavors, and in easy to access pouches. In five fun-filled flavors: Appley Ever After, Goodness Grapeness, Berry Berry Good Lemonade, Tropical Tango Punch, and Super Fruit Punch.
This year for the holidays, choose a healthy alternative to the sugary, sweet, unhealthy, tempting snacks and treats that support poor choices for your kids. While a sugary snack here and there is alright in moderation, but sometimes the holidays take over with the desire for sweets. Don’t take my word for it, try Honest Kids drinks for yourself, find them at your local grocers, Costco, and other local retailers. Try adding them to your stockings this year for the holidays or in next year’s Halloween treat bowl as a healthier, just as sweet alternative.
The Five Fish is excited to share with you on this Halloween the review and giveaway of The Dog Who Saved Halloween. For parents you will be happy to hear a flashback of child star names; Joey Lawrence and Mayim Bialik our favorite brother and sister duo from TV’s Blossom.
Everyone’s favorite four-legged friend Zeus (voiced by Joey Lawrence) and the Bannisters are back in The Dog Who Saved Halloween, an all-new adventure jam-packed with family-friendly thrills and chills! When George, Belinda and their kids Kara and Ben Bannister move into a new house – just in time for Halloween! – everything seems to be fine…until they notice eerie glowing lights and strange sounds coming from their neighbor’s house where creepy Mr. Cole (Lance Henriksen) lives with his protective pooch Medusa (voiced by Mayim Bialik). When a black cat suddenly goes missing, George Bannister (Gary Valentine) insists on investigating the matter himself – and ultimately enlists an odd yet familiar pair (Dean Cain, Joey Diaz) to help. But after the trio and Belinda Bannister (Elisa Donovan) get trapped inside the spooky house, it’s once again up to Zeus to save the day (Anchor Bay Entertainment & Grand Communications, 2011)!
My kids loved this movie, not only for celebrating Halloween and the upcoming holidays, but everyone loves a super hero and a dog all in one. Â Lots of laughs and slap stick fun in this family favorite. Add it to your family’s holiday collection of movies this Halloween and in time for Christmas where you can celebrate this holiday favorite all year round.
Here is how you can win a copy for your kids this Halloween Day:
Leave a comment telling me what your kids are dressing up for this Halloween or what is your favorite part of Halloween.
Tweet this giveaway for daily entries: Celebrate fun all year enter to win @dogHalloween The Dog Who Saved Halloween with @Kariewithak & The Five Fish https://thefivefish.com/dog-saved-halloween
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Contest ends Friday November 17th at midnight Arizona time.
As always: No Purchase Necessary, available to US and Canada residents. One entry per household. US postcard entries also acceptable if you do not have access to the above entry options, no limit to postcard entries as long as all are received before the close of the contest, email contests@thefivefish.com for your postcard entry details or to use email as your postcard entrance as these entries will be logged by the administrator of the blog. Winners will be chosen by “And the Winner is” Failure to adhere to the aforementioned rules set forth by this contest will result in forfeiture of your entry with no notice. Facebook does not promote, endorse, nor sponsor this review and giveaway and will be held harmless. As always, good luck and enjoy.
While surfing through Netflix the other night to find something of substance and interest to watch, to feed the intellect; the hubs and I found this instance to be rather interesting. I cannot say much, I think the video will have to speak for itself.
As a mother I think that a great deal of misconception surrounds trying to conceive for women. I personally went through my own struggles. From complicated health issues that hindered my ability to conceive to loss. To conceive a child is what some of us consider to be what makes us women. While we are no less human or no less a woman, the yearning for a child for many women is very biological.
Currently I have a friend who has struggled, as I had to conceive. But I feel her story is worth sharing as I wish her all the baby dust and sprinkles in the world as she begins her journey into motherhood.
Her conception struggles began sometime last year as she made her first attempts at conception. Knowing some early pregnancy symptoms and signs she knew she was pregnant. But as veteran mothers know, the first 12 weeks are always the danger zone. Within the week of sharing her good news with the blessed few, including myself, she was experiencing heartache. My heart broke for her as I watched hers break over and over and I saw her wretched with pain. I saw her come to work and swallow her pain. I knew her pain, I once experienced her pain, but how can you console a grieving woman who so badly wants to be a mother just as I had become. At a loss with her loss I gave her space but shared my pain with her, my struggles as a reassurance she was not alone, to aid in her healing.
Time passed and she tried yet again only to be faced with the same result, loss, grief, and the emptiness that she may never become a mother. I saw the despair, I could feel her despair, I once experienced this myself, and again I offered my friendship and experience as a consolation that conception can suck, but she is not alone.
However  her loss became a sounding strength as she became more determined to find the root of her struggles of which she did and did so with some success. She found answers, direction, and a healing path. She recently just found she was pregnant, without jinxing the impeccable news, she has not shared with many people, and I will not share her name because I would hate to jinx this for her as well. But my intent is to share that conception is not always a joyous event. Women struggle each day, but with struggles and heartache can eventually yield the joy and love every woman who is trying to conceive deserves.
Please cheer, pray, light candles, whatever your methodology may be for my dear friend as she travels through the next seven weeks to the path of glory and surviving her first trimester into the coming days of motherhood. I have been honored to get her every other day results with her blood work as her levels climb at awesome levels. My personal hope is she is cursed blessed with twins and she experiences all the joys, laughter, struggles, and growing pains of any parent.
Our journey to motherhood should not be met with such woe and sorrow, but the reality is that we are thrown a curve ball. How we act upon that curve ball is whether we step back from the plate or we take a swing and run for the bases.
What to do with broken crayons? Our family is a waste not, want not type. More so the waste not because why throw out something that can be repaired or recycled. In our case we have about a gazillion broken crayons due to toddlers and children’s hands and who knows the reason why crayons break, but it happens. Unfortunately though these broken crayons became intertwined with those that are whole creating a crayon nightmare for my OCD. My project became how to reuse or what to do with broken crayons.
So one day I decided to embark on the great crayon rescue and clean up project. My kids have the Crayola crayon maker and to be honest I think it sucks, we used it and I was not impressed. I am glad I did not spend a great deal on it for Christmas one year, so that will be a yard sale item, and I suggest you do the same by not investing in this purchase. I digress. Any how, we sifted and sorted through the thousands of colors and crayons we have, removed the paper wrapping, and tossed into a bowl to break into smaller chunks.
When I saw that the Crayola contraption was lacking in effectiveness I resorted to creativity and ease. Here is how you can make your own cool shaped crayons at home here is all your need:
Non-stick or silicone muffin tin
I have these great silicone muffin tins from Wilton’s that I used for this project and created some really rad looking crayons for my three and a half year old twins and eight year old son that are great for them to grab onto with their little paws, are sturdy, and they are funky shaped and fun.
So I tossed in similar color family colors of crayons into each deposit spot and placed in the oven at about 250 degrees for roughly 20 minutes and watched them melt into the molds. I checked on them to ensure the wax did not bubble or boil as not to break down the way and mix the colors into an oblivion or brown and pure ugliness. Here is the end result and the kids love their new crayons and they are some fun, funky, sturdy crayons that are wonders for their imaginative coloring creations.
The news has sensationalized and down played the truth and reality that is the economic recession. Her effects, downfalls, triumphs, gripes, and how the recession has affected this family amongst the many that struggle each day to survive, maintain their home and not live on the streets, in their cars, or worse.
Our family became afflicted by the recession when DH was laid off shortly after the twins were born. Luckily he had another job lined up before the layoff, however, this was a large reduction in pay. While a job, the position was a struggle and a struggle for our family as we had to learn to scale back when our family was expanding as were our expenses.
But as we began to get traction again, we had yet another blow and The Chad was impacted yet again, and after a few months of struggling we began to find some solid ground. Yet, as with any restless waters, we began to feel our ship sink again when another blow came to us just a few short months ago.
The recession has been a learning experience and has been a tried and true gauge of my testament of love and marriage. Stress levels seek all new highs and lows during a financial crisis. Emotional levels are taxed to their very limits. Evil lurks in the depths of one’s mind and they begin to question their own faith in love and marriage, they doubt their partner and their position in the union, and eventually you feel like checking out. But the truth that has withstood the seams coming apart at their ends is love, truth, family. Without those I know our family would have not been able to weather this storm, on a couple of occasions.
I find solace in knowing I am not alone, but the evil comes in and I feel shame. Shameful for reasons I am not sure about. Maybe because I feel I cannot provide for my children the way I want to. Maybe because I feel I need to be more accomplished for my family. Maybe for the lack of adult time The Chad and I get to share with one another. So I wonder where will life go from here. I wonder how many share in my stress, my concern, who have been impacted, who have survived, and with my wonder I find solace once more. I am at peace to know I am not alone, but also fear no confirmation of having others share in my experience.
Pity too I have become a story I read when I underwrite a file at work, I share in these strangers stories of loss, heartache, stress, and fear. I can sympathize and empathize all at once and I cannot help but to ponder how many of my blog brethren share in my situation. How we hide something so common, but yet we feel so shameful and I think of how many have experienced the recession and lost something even greater than just a job and income. How has life changed for you if at all? What losses have you experienced?
Experience the fun and excitement of the popular TV show right in your own living room!
