Tag Archives: Christmas

Gift Guide for Boys!

13 Tuesday Nov 2018

Posted by in Christmas, family, gifts, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , ,

Back in the day, before children, and for only two years, I put together a Charity Gift Guide for the holidays.

As much as my heart is still very passionate about giving and volunteering, my available time and energy to dedicate to those causes has decreased significantly.  So this year I’m sharing a gift guide about a new area of expertise of mine: gifts for boys!

For those that aren’t intimately familiar with our family, our boys are 2.5 (Josh) and 5 (Jake), so my selections are tailored around those ages.

While attempting to potty train Josh, we read My Very First Space Book a lot, and Josh kept pointing to the telescopes and saying “me want.”  And how cool would it be for us to go in the backyard with the boys and learn about constellations?!  I found this starter one on Amazon that I’m hoping Santa will bring the boys (links are on the images!).

Kidcia Telescope for Kids 

Josh has already been really into Play-dough lately.  We had to get rid of it for a while because he would just eat it.  Now, he mostly plays with it, and just occasionally eats it, so it’s still a semi-supervised activity, but it’s the most I’ve seen him entertained by anything.  Thanks to random and creepy YouTube videos, these are the top contenders:Another YouTube find: instant ice cream!  The one featured in the video that the boys watch (over and over and over again) has terrible reviews on Amazon.  I found the one below that has better views, but also costs a lot more.  Not sure if this will actually make it under the tree this year, but if it did, I think it would make for good entertainment…for a few minutes.

Chef’n Sweet Spot Ice Cream Maker I remember bath times with Jake when it was all about him, and we would play and practice letters with his bathtub letters.  Bath time now is this thing to check off the list and get to bed.  We have some toys in the tub but it’s mostly stuff that the boys play with on their own.  I came across these cool bath toys that are STEM related and I think both boys would enjoy playing with:

Jake and Josh are also really into their play kitchen set lately.  I’m so glad because that was their big gift from Santa last year, and at first I thought it was going to be a waste of money (not that Santa cares about those kinds of things..).  Now I think I want to eliminate some of the other toys in the toy room and build up their kitchen ware:

Speaking of pretend play, I love this firefighter costume and that it comes with a hose!

I also should probably just stock up on hundreds of Nerf bullets for Josh, haha.

Jake is definitely going through a dinosaur phase (we listen to a dinosaur podcast every morning on our way to school – Dinosaur FUN FACT OF THE DAY! and Age of the Dinosaurs, on repeat – he carries his dinosaur fact cards everywhere he goes, and loves his dino action figures), so I thought we’d feed into that a bit.

This fossil dig looks pretty awesome:

These dino eggs also looked pretty cool.  We recently got one from Michael’s and the anticipation on Jake’s face was just priceless…for over 24 hours, haha. Jake also loves to read, so I thought these Bernstein books would be a good cross over:

Speaking of reading, Grandma Linda got Jake some e-readers a while back, and he loves them.  They come with different books that he can select on the e-reader and then click on the color that matches the color coded page.  We have the Paw Patrol one, and the Marvel Super Hero one, but I think this one would be a good addition:Another gift giving idea that Grandma Linda started with Jeff and I is a Barnes & Noble gift card in our stocking.  I’m starting to do this with the boys also, and let them pick a book.  I love the idea of the boys enjoying books as much as we do.  Maybe going to Barnes & Noble after Christmas to pick out our new books will become part of our Christmas traditions!

Once we’re done shopping for the boys, we’ll have just enough for a bottle of wine for mom (hopefully top shelf!), and socks and underwear for dad, ha!

What are your kids into these days?  What are your favorite holiday traditions?

Christmas: Then and Now

11 Sunday Jan 2015

Posted by in Christmas, family, holidays, Motherhood, parenting

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

Christmas Eve, just before midnight, found me at my aunt’s house, laying on a blow up mattress in the dark with my husband and 16 month old baby (I still can’t bring myself to call him a toddler…).  As I lay there listening to my cousins take shots and yell out which song they should play next, and my aunts laughing as they exchanged stories, I couldn’t help but laugh.

I was super shy when I was little.  Even around my family.  So our Christmas Eve midnight celebration was sometimes too much for me to handle, I would just get overwhelmed and feel super uncomfortable.  I specifically remember one year running to the exact same room in my aunt’s house and laying on the bunk bed in the dark, and crying.  Not a crazy, emotional sob, but just, I dunno, “I”m really uncomfortable” crying, does that make any sense?  I still can’t understand why I felt this way, I mean, I love my family and they’re all great, so I don’t understand why I would feel so shy and introverted around them.

Anyhow, here I am, decades later, in the same exact room, in the dark, at the same time of the year, but this time I’m trapped in here because of my son, who obviously was very tired and needed to sleep (and also wasn’t feeling well), but couldn’t quite stay asleep with all the celebrations going on outside the room. I had to laugh that when I was little I voluntarily secluded myself, and years later here I was just wanting to be outside this darn room, but couldn’t because dammit, I’m an adult now with responsibilities. It was funny to me how some things change, and some don’t.

Get ready for the season! Ornament Fundraiser

04 Tuesday Nov 2014

Posted by in Charity of the Month, fundraising, Haiti

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , ,

Have you heard of Apparent Project before?  If you haven’t, you should check them out.  They are providing lots of jobs for Haitians, teaching them how to create lots of beautiful and wonderful items for people to purchase.  A lot of their artisans happen to me mothers with children to take care of, so this year they actually opened a day care facility so their artisans don’t have to worry about day care.  One of the many things they create are beautiful Christmas ornaments, which they allow other people to sell as a fundraising opportunity.  So this year I’ve decided to go out on a limb and see how good my fundraising skills really are!

Throughout the month of November, I’ll be selling 7 different Christmas ornaments, and here’s how it works: each ornament is $8.00.  Of these $8, $4 goes back to Apparent Project to support their artisans ($1 is guaranteed to go towards their day care facility), and $4 goes to Haiti Scholarships (the organization that I’m fundraising for).

Ornaments All

Pretty awesome, right?  Did I mention they’re each handmade??  So if you’re interested in supporting two wonderful organizations, you can email me or fill out this form letting me know what ornaments you want, and we can go from there.  I only have four weeks to sell these before I need to send back any leftovers, so if you’re interested please let me know ASAP :)

A thank you shout out to the hubby, Jeff Armstrong, for getting these wonderful photos taken for me ;)

Charity of the Month: Holiday Volunteer Opportunities

22 Wednesday Oct 2014

Posted by in Charity of the Month

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , ,

Like last year, I’m sharing with you a compilation of non-profit volunteer wish lists’s that has already been compiled by OneOC, you can check here for the dropbox link, or here for the main page with the link.

Other organizations that are not listed:

Illumination Foundation has a Thanksgiving Meal Celebration on November 22nd, from 8am-5pm.

Probation Community Action Association allows you to adopt a family or donate gifts. Located in Fountain Valley.

The county of Orange hosts Operation Santa Claus (volunteer needs include sorting gifts at the Operation Santa Claus Gift Shop!) and Senior Santa and Friends each year, both of which look like amazing opportunities to donate or participate in great causes. And there’s also a toy drive benefitting various organizations (they need volunteers as well, located in Santa Ana).

Feel free to comment with your favorite organization to volunteer with, or how your family has giving back during the holidays–I’d love to hear your stories!

Holiday Gift Guide 2013

06 Friday Dec 2013

Posted by in Charity of the Month, Christmas, gifts, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

I’m linking my oldies but goodies at the end, plus including a few new favorites that I wouldn’t mind having myself!

I couldn't pick just one item!

I couldn’t pick just one item!

Holiday Guide 2013 #2

I would like to state that the above are my first adventures into the world of Photoshop.  Not the greatest, but not awful, right?  Although I do have to confess that the roundy cool one for Nena & Co. and The Root Collective was done by the hubby…I don’t have those kinds of skills yet (hence why the rest are not as pretty).

I was too lazy to make a cool Photoshop just for this, but I’m sure this will be a beautiful calendar for next year.  I plan on buying one for my office :)

Supports The Network in Solidarity With The People of Guatemala (phew, that's a long one).

Supports The Network in Solidarity With The People of Guatemala (phew, that’s a long one).

Another gift guide that I came across this year is from Home With the Boys.  The website is down right now but hopefully will be back up in the next day or so.  And of course, there’s always Nicholas Kristof’s guide from The New York Times.

And the oldies but goodies:

2011 Gift Guide (apparently I missed 2012…)

2010 Gift Guide and 2010 Update

Happy shopping!

Charity of the Month: Holiday Volunteer Opportunities

11 Monday Nov 2013

Posted by in charity, Charity of the Month, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Uncategorized, volunteer

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , ,

With the holidays around the corner, I thought I would dedicate this Charity of the Month to sharing a list of places in Orange County where you can volunteer some time to provide holiday cheer to those less fortunate.  My compilation is a shorter version of a compilation already made by One OC (hey, why reinvent the wheel?).  Click on the One OC link and check out the page number listed below to get contact information–I’m also providing links to each of the organizations in case you’d like to find out more about them.  Get your volunteer on! (too cheesy, huh?)

  1. Families Forward in Irvine needs help preparing Thanksgiving bags (p. 11).
  2. Make a Wish Foundation needs volunteers in November and December for their Santa Letter Writing Campaign at Macy’s stores (p. 22)
  3. Colette’s Children’s Home in Placentia needs volunteers on November 25th for their Thanksgiving Feast for homeless women and children (p. 8), as well as November 26th in Huntington Beach (p. 9).
  4. American Family Housing in Westminster needs volunteers on Thanksgiving Day (November 28th) for serving, setting up, and breaking down a Thanksgiving dinner for homeless people (different shifts available, p. 3).
  5. Families Forward in Irvine needs help distributing gift bags to families (p. 11).
  6. Grandma’s House of Hope in Santa Ana (and multiple locations) needs help decorating their women’s shelter’s for the holidays (p. 15).
  7. Alzheimer’s Family Services Center in Huntington Beach needs help on December 3rd with setting up holiday decorations (p. 2).
  8. Giving Children Hope in Buena Park needs help wrapping Christmas presents on December 3-5th and 10-12th (p. 14).
  9. The Wooden Floor in Santa Ana is looking for people to donate a Christmas tree and decorate it for families that cannot afford one.  Needs to be done by December 6th (p. 31).
  10. Child Guidance Center in Newport Beach needs help on December 7th and 8th setting up for and during their Annual Holiday Tree Fantasy Event at the Balboa Bay Club (p. 7).
  11. Colette’s Children’s Home needs volunteers for their Christmas Party at the Huntington Hyatt on December 19th (p. 9).