Winter Activities
Celebrate with Febreze Home for the Holidays Collection #FebrezeHoliday
The Holiday Season will be here before we know it! Already the stores are stocking their shelves full of Holiday items. Recently, we received this cute Febreze Home for the Holidays Collection box in the mail from Febreze, Walmart, and SheSpeaks! The kids were thrilled to see the Holiday House and I was excited about getting all the amazing Holiday Febreze scents and goodies!
Have ever used Febreze to add an extra festive touch or to enhance the decor in your home? Febreze truly eliminates odors so your guests will only notice the fresh holiday scents when in your home. If you haven’t tried any of the Febreze Home for the Holidays Collection you should get some soon to help you get into the holiday spirit! The scents and the designs on the packaging helped inspire the ideas in the scentspiration box!
One of my favorite parts about the Holidays all the amazing smells! A wonderful way to ramp up for the Holidays is by using Febreze’s holiday scents including Frosted Pine, Apple Tart, Toasted Almond, Vanilla Latte, and Sugared Cranberry. Do you like having a different holiday scent for each room or one for the entire house? Febreze’s Home for the Holidays Collection is a great way to get your home ready for the holiday season!
We received the Frosted Pine, Apple Tart, and Vanilla Latte NOTICEables NOTABLES scents! My favorite is the Apple Tart!
Our Home for the Holidays house came complete with scents and a scentspiration box full of amazing recipes, activities, and home decor!
Febreze Home for the Holidays Recipe – Cocoa-Dusted Almonds
What you need: 1 pound raw almonds, 1 tablespoon coconut oil, 2 teaspoons cornstarch, 1/4 cup cocoa powder, 8 packets sugar-free sweetner, and a pinch of salt
Directions:
1. Melt the coconut oil to a liquid, and then pour it over the almonds in a large bowl. Make sure each almond is covered.
2. In a separate bowl, mix together the cornstarch, cocoa powder, sugar-free sweetener, and salt.
3. Pour the dry ingredients onto the almonds. Toss the almonds in the mixture until they are well coated.
4. Pour onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake at 250 degrees for about 25 minutes, stirring occasionally. Let them completely cool then ENJOY!
These were DELICIOUS! The Cocoa-Dusted Almonds would make a great item to take to the neighbors for the Holidays or to have at a Holiday Party! Our family enjoyed these toasted almonds this past weekend. This recipe is easy to make and tastes awesome! Have you ever made toasted almonds, if so what’s your favorite recipe?
Febreze Home for the Holidays Activities – Coffee Scrub
What you need: 1/ cup ground coffee, 1/2 cup white sugar, 1/4 cup melted coconut oil, 1/2 tablespoon nutmeg, 1/2 tablespoon cinnamon, and 3 to 4 drops of vanilla extract.
Directions:
1. Combine all of the dry ingredients in a bowl.
2. Use a fork to mix in the oil and vanilla.
3. Spoon into a small mason jar or other airtight container.
Loved the refreshing coffee smell of the scrub! The Coffee Scrub would make a great gift for a coffee enthusiast this Holiday Season!
What is your favorite coffee flavor and when is the last time you made a cup of it at home? I really loved the refreshing coffee smell of the scrub! The Coffee Scrub would make a great gift for a coffee enthusiast this Holiday Season! What unique addition would you add to this scentspiration activity?
What are some fun Holiday activities or recipes you use to get you ready for the Holiday Season? I would love to see any pictures of the scentspiration activities you tried at your house.
More information about Febreze:
- Like Febreze’s Facebook Page
- Follow Febreze’s Twitter Feed
- Pick up your favorite Febreze Fall Home Harvest Scent at your local Walmart
A special thanks to SheSpeaks, Febreze, and Walmart for sponsoring this post! Any specific product information was provided by Febreze, Walmart, and SheSpeaks, however, the opinions expressed in this post are our own. We received a complimentary products for sharing information and our family’s experience.
Charleston: The Charleston Explorer Program
Charleston Explorer Goodies
Since we go to Charleston a few times every year we signed the kids up for their Charleston Explorers Club a little over a year ago. It was a great way to explore the Charleston area, learn pieces of history or science and more plus earn a few prizes along the way. We have always enjoy our trips to Charleston and every time we try to go to a new place which made the Charleston Explorers a great program for our kids.
You could pick up a Charleston Explorer passport at any of the Charleston Area Visitors Centers. It was free for any kid under 18 to sign up for the club. When the kids enrolled they each received a passport, prize, a list of more than 30 participating locations, and information about how the program worked. Each time the kids visited one of the locations they would get a stamp specific to that location and enter the “stamp code” into their online profile and rate the place they visited. Every 5 stamps they would earn a prize that was mailed directly to our house. We never knew what the prizes would be and the kids were always very happy with the neat items that came in the mail.
Some of the places where you got the stamps were free while others required paid admission. Several of the places you could buy discounted tickets if you bundled them together. The program started back in April 2011 and recently ended. It is probably one of the best travel programs we have participated in, it was ran well, the prizes were amazing, and we had a blast doing the Charleston Explorers with the kids. We would love to see them do another program for the kids in the future!
I would encourage you to check out any of these types of explorers programs in your local area or another area where you visit frequently. These are programs can provide great learning opportunities for your kids. It was a wonderful experience for our whole family. I wish more places had kids programs like this one.
Some of the items we received:
- Charleston Explorers Water Bottles
- Charleston Explorers Magnetic Keychains with Flashlights
- Charleston Explorers Binoculars
- Charleston Explorers Pens
- Charleston Explorers Stickers
- Charleston Explorers Bag
- Charleston Explorers Clips
- $25 Wonder Works Toy Store Gift Cards
- iPod Touch
The highlighted places on our brochure are the ones we have visited since we started the Charleston Explorers program! Great places to visit and wonderful times exploring with the kids!
The girls passport books! Here is what two of their pages look like with the Fort Sumter, Patriots Point, Heyward Washington House, Nathaniel Russell House, Edmonston Alston House, and Aiken Rhett House stamps on these two pages. We filled their passport books up. The girls loved getting their stamps at the end of their tours.
One of the prizes they earned was a $25 Gift Card each from Wonder Works a Toy Store in Charleston. The girls can’t wait for our next trip to Charleston so they can use their gift cards!
The girls were so excited when FedEx dropped off a package at our “Google only” household! Guess, we now need to include another platform…. Their final Charleston Explorers prize was an iPod Touch! They were so very EXCITED to receive the iPod! Wow!!! Thanks Charleston for making our trips so enjoyable and for the amazing prizes! It has been a awesome exploring with the family and we look forward to our next visit! We still have several more locations we want to see on our list!
STEM Club & Lego Robotics
Adorable Robot snack for the STEM Club Celebration!
The girls applied for the STEM Club and were accepted! Congratulations GIRLS!!! They took a lot of time filling out their applications and waited patiently to hear the news. Their hard work paid off. They are so EXCITED! We have started another year of STEM Club and Lego Robotics.
Mrs. Johnson, one of the teachers that helps with STEM Club made super cute robot snacks for all the kids to enjoy during the STEM Club Celebration. The robot was a juice box with four starbursts on the bottom for feet, two airheads for arms, two nuggets for head, and googly eyes. The kids thought they were awesome. So thoughtful and creative!
They are already working hard at STEM Club. There is a lot work ahead of them before the robotics competition in January, but they are off to a good start. Thankful for this opportunity for them to learn. In order for them to remain in STEM Club they had to sign a “contract” saying they would attend meetings (if they miss more than three they will be asked to leave), keep up their grades, and more.
WooHoo! They got into STEM Club! Here is part of their acceptance letters!
Karlie enjoying her robot snack!
Brina having fun at the STEM Club Celebration!
Seeing Astronaut Buzz Aldrin
Buzz Aldrin with a picture of his team in the background – Neil Armstrong, Mike Collins, and Buzz Aldrin. The amazing team that first walked on the moon!
Earlier this month we got the privilege of hearing astronaut Buzz Aldrin speak at Wofford College in Spartanburg, South Carolina!!! The girls were thrilled. Karlie especially was quite literally – “Over the moon excited” to be able to see and hear one of her astronaut heroes in person! It was really neat to hear him speak and listen to some of his amazing stories. He had a good sense of humor and held the audiences attention well. It was an awesome time and I am thankfully for my friend Jennifer who shared the information about this special event with us so we could go. We got there an hour early and they opened the doors early. Within the first 10 minutes of opening the doors the auditorium was full and people were sitting in classrooms around campus. After hearing Buzz Aldrin speak that night Karlie was even more excited and now she wants to be one of the astronauts that go to Mars! You never really know what the future holds……
We arrived early and while the girls were very excited they also were very patient waiting for the event to start. This was after an hour of waiting, they still have smiles! So thankful we got to go to this event! They loved it!!!
Astronaut Buzz Aldrin speaking! The picture is of a flight he took with his Dad.
Buzz Aldrin speaking at Wofford College in Spartanburg, SC. Thankful for an opportunity to hear him speak. He had great stories and a fun sense of humor too!
Such a cool picture! Great stories too about his mission with Neil Armstrong and Mike Collins!
A picture of the plaque that was welded to the lunar module and left on the moon! “Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the moon.” July 1969 “We came in peace for all mankind” with the signatures of President Richard Nixon, Mike Collins, Neil Armstrong, and Buzz Aldrin
Having A Splashin Good Time!
Karlie going for a ride under the water! Hang on!
Brina going for a ride under the water. She didn’t relax as much because she was more concerned that Jake could hold his breath longer and wouldn’t come up for air in time. He did!
This one makes me laugh! The girls were standing in line behind us chit – chatting. I am not sure what they were talking about it, but Brina thought it was hilarious! Love it when the two of them make each other giggle. Hope they remain great friends their entire lives!
Getting up on the lily pad took some extra energy – it was slick! Towards the end of the second day Brina was getting tired and chilly so we put a life jacket on her for the last hour. She didn’t want to stop playing in the water so this was a good compromise! Resting on the lily pad for a little bit and talking about their day.
Trying to hold on as the lily pad was spinning in circles! Not sure how they still had the energy and all those giggles left in them, but they were having a grand time!
As we were getting ready to wrap up for the day Brina had to do one more run before we left Great Wolf Lodge.
Karlie trying to smile through the tears! “I just don’t want to go home Mom, I’ve had so much fun!” She wanted me to walk around and take a bunch of pictures the last 5 minutes they were open and kept asking me “Mom, are you sure you got enough pictures? I don’t ever want to forget our time here together!”
Karlie with a big smile as she finally crashed on the trip home.
It didn’t take long before Brina was asleep too.We had a wonderful time together at Great Wolf Lodge. On the way home Jake and I figured out that we spent about 20 hours actually in the water playing! Considering we were only there for a day and a half we packed a lot of fun into that time. The girls had a great time and we had fun too. All of us were exhausted! Despite Karlie’s fear of not getting enough pictures I think we have plenty to look back on and remember this wonderful trip together.
Another Day of Fun!
Breakfast anyone?!
Since we were all exhausted last night after a full day of water fun we decided to postpone the cake until breakfast. I don’t think we have every let the girls eat cake for breakfast, but your 9th birthday only comes once in a life time so we might as well celebrate and enjoy it. The girls were super excited to eat their cake and it was delicious! Thank you Tip Top Cake shop for the great cakes and thank you Jake for wrapping them very careful so we could pack them up to North Carolina!
Everyone ready for another fun day!? All smiles and ready to go!
Karlie loves being in the water and splashing around!
A quick shot of Brina as she is swimming under the water!
Here comes Karlie with a big smile on her face, I wonder what she’s up to now!
Brina having fun in the water!
A close up underwater picture of Karlie! She looks mischievous!
Karlie coming right at me, at least she’s holding her breath!
Brina Bee!
A picture under water of Brina doing her flip.
An underwater look at Karlie’s flip!
Brina wanted to do it again!
Going down the River Canyon Run again. Are you ready?!
Jake’s laughing as we start and Brina has her eyes shut tight!
Karlie having a blast on the ride!
Brina checking out what was up ahead of us! So much fun going on these rides with the family!
Basketball & Slide Races at Great Wolf Lodge
Another one of the girls favorite spots to play was the pool with the basketballs and hoops. It was enjoyable for me too, I forgot how much fun it was to play basketball. The girls were quite impressed that I could get it in the hoop fairly consistently, ha!
Brina smiling as she gets ready to put one in!
This picture cracks….me…up….. It was hilarious hearing Karlie screeching as we went down the Howlin’ Tornado! I had my back to the slide so I couldn’t see the drops, but Karlie could. Karlie was “howlin” the whole way down while Brina was completely quiet and wide eyed. The trip down to the big drop was so fast I only had time to snap two quick pictures and one was covered in water spots!
Having a grand time!
Jake helping Brina float.
Karlie’s relaxed and floating around having fun!
Brina carrying up her mat for the next big slide!
Karlie’s got her mat and is ready to go!
We all went down the Mountain Edge Raceway at the same time. Jake won by going faster than the rest of us.
Hanging out in the pool waiting for the hoop to open up.
Playing basketball
Brina having a blast playing basketball in the pool.
Having fun!
A Trip to Great Wolf Lodge!
Great Wolf Lodge
For the girls birthday party celebration this year we made a special trip to Great Wolf Lodge in Concord, North Carolina. It was a rainy day with showers on the way, but we made it safely. We spent the ride reading books, talking, and playing games so it passed quickly. They were super excited to arrive and have a splashing good time!
We made it to Great Wolf Lodge. Here’s a quick shot of the girls waiting patiently on the “bear” seat as we get checked in. They are ready to go check out the pool area!
Standing under the huge bucket at Fort MacKenzie waiting for (1,000 gallons) of water to tip the bucket and splash everyone. They loved this one! It’s a lot of water!
The meeting of the minds….or are they really just working out their plan of action. “Hey Dad! What should we do first!”
Splashing and testing the water in the wave pool. Karlie having a grand time!
Brina all smiles and having fun!
Brina taking a break with Jake after she got hit by a couple of good waves in a row.
Karlie is loving her time in the water!
All four of us on our first trip down the River Canyon Run! Thankfully, the raft held 4 people even though we weren’t sure what to expect. Both girls were old enough to ride all the slides which was a lot of fun doing together. Brina’s not so sure as we take off at the top….
Love Jake’s expression in this one. Makes me smile!
Karlie is squealing as we whirl down the slide. Hilarious watching their reactions. One benefit to having a water camera is you get to capture some of the crazy moments too!
Filling up the buckets!
Brina riding the waves in the wave pool!
Karlie loving the waves! They both always wanted to be in the deep end so they could get the higher waves!
Karlie all smiles as she carries her yellow tube up for another fun ride!
Brina pausing briefly to look at me as she stands in line shivering. It was warm in the water, but a few times while standing in line it felt a little chilly. Thankfully the lines were really short and we were in the water a lot more!
Karlie smiling as she dives under water!
Look out here comes BRINA!
This was a fun one – Big Foot Pass. You had a rope overhead to hang onto as you walked across the floating logs. Karlie stood up the first time, but decided after that she enjoyed hopping from log to log across the pool better. Karlie’s was determined and made it across every time!
Brina was definitely the most talented at this activity. She just bounced across from log to log making it look so easy. Trust me it is not as easy as it looks, we all did it! Brina finishing up. She did this activity many times!
Jake even made it across without falling off…..although a couple times he was close!
We had a blast at Great Wolf Lodge! More pictures to come soon. Thankful for a chance to get away with the family, celebrate the girls birthday, and have some fun together!
Our Snowman – Rainbow Sherbet
Karlie and Brina proud of their colorful snowman!
Of course one of the fun activities every kid wants to do during a snow storm is build a Snowman! While I cannot say our snowman will win any prices for being perfect or expertly made, especially since it was the girls and I who put him together, he is pretty colorful to look at. We had a lot of fun building and creating him together!
Since we were already doing the spray painting we decided to do something different this year with our snowman. We call him – “Rainbow Sherbet!”
Rainbow Sherbet added a little extra color to our white yard!
The girls are hoping Rainbow Sherbet will last for a few weeks. I am hoping he’ll last a couple days! Once it starts warming up everything melts quickly in South Carolina!
Karlie and Brina had the help of a certain black lab named Skipper! She was proud of their creation too, ha!
Karlie is armed with a paint spray bottle, wonder what she is planning to paint now!
Winter Wonderland!
Brina making a snow angel
We spent our days finding ways to have fun both inside and outside the house. I think they spent almost as much time outside as they did inside even on those days when it was snowing the whole day. They had so much fun.
A sweet “I Love You”
Karlie found a nice leafy spot for her snow angel!
I wonder who might have wrote this one! Ha!
Yes, we get another SNOW DAY! YAY!!!! So excited!
Every morning before the kids and animals were tracking in and out of the house the deck looked beautiful all covered in a fresh coat of snow!
One morning we measured the amount on the back deck – 3 inches overnight! Awesome!
Not sure how much we actually got but the kids sure have enjoyed all of it!
A good snow storm is not complete without some snow cream. The problem is my traditional recipe had dairy in it so I found another one and we substituted Coconut Milk. It didn’t turn out as creamy as our old one, however, the kids still had a great time making and eating it!
Whipping up two batches of snow ice cream – one vanilla and one chocolate!
Karlie’s stirring up the vanilla!
A bowl of snow cream with sprinkles on top! Delicious!
If you want the Snow Cream recipe it is as follows:
4 cups Fresh Snow
1/3 cup Sugar
1/4 teaspoon of Vanilla
1/2 cup Milk or Coconut Milk
Stir everything together and enjoy! You can add chocolate or any of your favorite toppings!
