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A holiday treat from Mrs. Prindables

Caramel apples have a special place in my heart. You see, when TechyDad and I were long distance dating, we would meet up half way between where we lived. We would spend the day shopping, grabbing lunch, and then we would splurge and have an amazing candy coated caramel apple together before we went our separate ways.

Thanks to MomImpact, we found out about Mrs. Prindable’s Gourmet Apples.

Mrs. Prindable's

In April, we were sent their Triple Chocolate creation. This apple tops my list as the best gourmet apple I had ever had. Everyone in our family enjoyed it and we talked about ordering some for family members since they are kosher certified. Recently, we were asked to try another one of the Mrs. Prindable’s gourmet apples. There was no way the boys would let me turn this down, so we immediately agreed. A short while ago, the jumbo Dark Chocolate Delight apple arrived at our house.

Before I share what we thought, here is a bit more about Mrs. Prindable’s.

About Mrs. Prindable’s:

Picnik collage

Mrs. Prindable’s apples come in two sizes and are certified kosher. They have jumbo and petite apples available. The jumbo apples can weigh up to 1.5 pounds and serve 8-10 people. The petite apples are 8 ounces and serve 1-2 people. Both sizes are available in eight classic gourmet flavors that include:

  • Dark Chocolate Delight – apple dipped in creamy caramel, rolled in chunks of chocolate and doused in premium dark chocolate
  • http://www.theangelforever.com/wp-admin/post-new.phpTriple Chocolate – an apple surrounded by caramel along with milk, white and dark chocolate  (this is what we received)
  • Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Almond – apple with peanut butter chips and bursts of dark and milk chocolate team up with whole almonds
  • Milk Chocolate Walnut Pecan – an apple hand-dipped in caramel, rolled in pecans and walnuts and smothered in milk chocolate
  • Milk Chocolate Toffee Walnut – an apple is hand-dipped in caramel, rolled in walnuts, smothered in milk chocolate and coated with Ol’ English Toffee
  • Dark Chocolate Cashew – an apple hand-dipped in caramel, rolled in cashews and smothered in dark chocolate
  • Dark Chocolate Splendor – an apple dunked in dark chocolate, covered with nonpareil-coated dark chocolate drops and topped with dark chocolate shavings
  • Milk Chocolate Pecan  – an apple hand-dipped in our caramel, rolled in premium whole pecans, and smothered in milk chocolate

In addition to the 8 traditional signature flavors, Mrs. Prindable’s is introducing 3 brand new Holiday flavors. Now available are Dark Chocolate Raspberry Swirl, Double Chocolate Mocha, and Peppermint Bark. Mrs. Prindable’s also have special gift baskets and items for holiday season, including Hanukkah and Christmas.

During the month of December, Mrs. Prindable’s will be giving away an apple a day on their Facebook Page. All you have to do is "like" them and comment on their daily post where a winner will be randomly selected.

What we thought:

Our jumbo Dark Chocolate Delight apple arrived soon after Halloween. It was a nice break from the boys demanding something from their pumpkin haul. Since the boys recalled the apple from April, they were chanting for apple as TechyDad opened it up and worked on slicing it. As an observer, it appeared to be tough to cut. This is NOT a bad thing. It was thanks to it having such a large amount of dark chocolate on the outside. The good news is that TechyDad was up to the challenge and sliced up our apple.

 Dark Chocolate Delight Apple

Once again, I was blown away with the perfectly crisp and juicy apple found underneath the layers. The apple hit the spot with the thick, rich, and gooey caramel that was coating it. Now I need to admit something, I am not a dark chocolate fan. Thanks to this, I found the extremely thick layer of very dark chocolate too much for my taste. Of course, on the flip side TechyDad loves dark chocolate. He thought that the dark chocolate layer was a fantastic treat and enjoyed each and every bite of the apple, caramel, and dark chocolate creation. So my advice, if you are not a dark chocolate fan, please pick one of the other apples that you will enjoy more.

NHL (7) liked the apple and are all of it, while JSL (3) ate some of the chocolate off and then said he was full. The next day we still had some of the apple left. TechyDad asked if I wanted some. I told him I was interested in the apple, but not the chocolate. We struck the perfect deal. He pulled off most of the dark chocolate and had a nice plate full of that, and I ate the juicy apple slice with the caramel on top. See, we are a good team!

Now to figure out which ones to order for holiday gifts for some family and friends. Hmmm……..

TheAngelForever

Disclosure: I wrote this review while participating in a campaign for MomImpact on behalf of Mrs. Prindable’s. My family received  a jumbo Dark Chocolate Delight Gourmet Apple to facilitate our candid review. No other compensation was given and all opinions are from my family.

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VReading Brothers

Dear NHL,

We have had a rough couple of weeks for many reasons. Even with everything that has been going on, you are almost always patient with your brother. Sure, there are times that you fight with JSL, but most days you love to spend time with him. The other day I came into the living room and found the two of you on the couch with the VTech VReader.

VReader buddies

You sat there with him snuggling up to you and explained how to use it. He asked you questions and you patiently answered them. These are the moments that I cherish. Thank you for being such a great big brother.

Love,

Mommy

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Holiday shopping with Aurora Gifts

One of the great parts about blogging is learning about products that may be new to you. Prior to last year, I was not very familiar with Aurora Gifts and their line of kids toys and stuffed friends. Over the summer, we participated in a study about some of their new YooHoo & Friends and the website that goes along with them for children. It was a fun experience and the boys enjoyed playing with their new YooHoo & Friends critters. Of course, now when I am out and about I often see YooHoo & Friends in stores, along with other Aurora products.

Recently, I was contacted by a PR representative from Aurora to see if I was interested in reviewing some of their new items that are available this holdiday season. Each of them are sold for under $20 each. Since my kids enjoyed the previous experience with Aurora items, I said we would love to.

These are the items that arrived at our house:

Items from Aurora Gifts

More about the items we received from Aurora:

8" Large Lemmee Punk Rocker from the "Retro" YooHoo & Friends line.

Retro YooHoo & Friends

Aurora’s international toy phenomenon YooHoo & Friends™ aims to please kids and collectors with the release of uber-hip YooHoo & Friends dressed in 60s, 70s and 80s retro styles. The collection is fashioned after some of the most famous pop culture icons of those decades (think Elvis, Madonna, Travolta from Saturday Night Fever etc.). The medium sized, five inch “retro” YooHoo & Friends are available in seven styles including 70s Love, Punk Rocker, Pop Singer, Vegas, Flash Dancer, British Rocker and Disco Dancer. The larger, eight inch versions include Punk Rocker, 70s Love, Flash Dancer and Pop Singer. Both sizes make sounds when squeezed (MSRP: medium-$8.99, large-$14.99).

YooHoo & Friends™ created the corresponding interactive website www.yoohoofriends.com, so kids and their parents can learn more about the animals (many endangered) and their natural habitats. Membership is free. On the site, visitors can play scores of games, download desktop backgrounds and coloring sheets, send e-cards, raise their own YooHoo & Friends character and much more. YooHoo & Friends is on Facebook (http://facebook.com/yoohoofanpage) and Twitter: @yoohoofriends.

10" Lea Lamb from the Dreamy Eyes collection.

Dreamy Eyes Lamb

Dreamy Eyes™ feature loveable expressions, big eyes and appealing cuddle material that just melts in your hands. 13 brand new styles include tiger, pony, pig, cow, lion, elephant, monkey, giraffe, cat, pug, Chihuahua, frog and lamb (10”, bean filled; MSRP: $12.99). Perfect for ages two and up!

8" Milly Wanna Be Princess and 8" Pink Kitty with Chocolate Carrier from the Milly Collection. 

The many faces of Milly

Milly WannaBes (8", MSRP: $10.99) are dressed as princess, ballerina or fairy. For girls three to seven who love playing pretend and dress up and aspire to be princesses, ballerinas and fairies.

Aurora’s plush toy pet carriers have been one of the company’s best sellers for over five years. Now Aurora has introduced a line of chocolate, vanilla and strawberry scented carriers with Milly. Milly Cupcake Carriers (MSRP: $13.99) include a removable eight-inch Milly plush animal (Mini-Flopsie) and for the first time, Aurora’s plush carriers are marked with scents lasting approximately six months (the carriers range in size from six to eight inches).

Aurora also has Paws Puppets, Aurora – Fancy Pals – The Original Toy Pet Carriers, and Cheeky Charlie & Carmen available on their websiteand retail stores this holiday season and beyond.

What we thought:

When the box arrived the other day, TechyDad told me that it said Aurora outside. I knew it was for the kids, but had no idea what would be inside – it was a surprise. The kids quickly surrounded us as we opened the boys. NHL and JSL immediately started to plot which was for each of them and stated that the pink ones were for Cousin SG. What I did not expect was them to argue over the the Retro YooHoo & Friends guy. I kid you not, to this day they both insist that it is theirs and demand me to agree. Why you ask? Well, they both love the guitar on it and laugh at the whistle call that it makes when you squeeze the tummy. For now, custody of Lemee is mine and I allow the boys visitation rights so they can rock out with him.

The kids thought that the Dreamy Eyes was adorable and wanted to see how soft it was. We were all pleasantly surprised with just how soft it and could see this becoming a child’s favorite to cuddle with. Because of the big eyes, it is not for children under 2. It would be a great addition to stuffed friends for the toddler/preschool set.

Both of the pink Milly plushes are absolutely adorable. I am sure my niece is going to adore them when we give them to her at Thanksgiving for an early Chanukah present. SG loves kittens, princesses, and cupcakes – so there is no doubt that my three year old niece will be in love. I know that if I was teaching, the cupcake Milly would be going with me to a desk to make a cute decoration.

Stay tuned, something fun for my readers will be coming soon thanks to Aurora.

TheAngelForever

Disclosure This review was made possible by Aurora Gifts and their PR company. They provided me with the items shown above to facilitate this review. The opinions of this review are mine and I received no other compensation.

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Project pride

Dear JSL,

This week you had your first ever project for school. At three years old, you were so excited to do homework like your big brother. Your nursery school teachers asked us to make a poster that showed things that we like to do as a family. Completing this together, with help from NHL was a lot of fun. You helped me to pick out photos, then we went to get them printed off at CVS. Once we got home we plunked down on the floor with the paper, photos, photo glue, and my monster sticker box. You helped me to put the pictures in just the right spots. After I glued them down, you were able to go into my sticker box. This was the first time you had ever seen it. You were mesmerized with the different Winnie the Pooh, Mickey Mouse, Monsters Inc, Blues Clues, and countless other options inside.

You wanted to hold onto your project to show Daddy when he got home from work. Luckily I was able to get you to put it down to dry. On Friday, when we took it into school, you insisted on holding onto it as we left the house. Then when we got to school you clutched it tight and paraded into school showing everyone along the way.

Proud of his project

It was so much fun watching how proud you were of the photos, stickers, and project as a whole. Now I hope we can keep this excitement for homework alive for years to come.

Love,

Mommy

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If you want to participate in Dear Kid Saturday, head on over to Cutest Kid Ever by clicking on the button below.

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School projects

When I was teaching, I was a pro at  assigning projects to my students. I had a lot of fun coming up with new and creative ways for my kids to do things like book reports and science projects. Of course, the flip side of these items was correcting them. I spent countless hours creating rubrics with my grading policies, expectations for each section, and more. Once the items came in, as exciting as it was to see the creativity of my students, it also meant a lot of work correcting/grading them. Not simply slapping a grade on them, but writing comments as to why points were deducted per the rubric and beyond. In the end, it was well worth it. Of course, I did have complaints about some of my projects. The calls, e-mails, and personal visits happened many times. Most of the time, things ended well and everyone was happy.

Now I am getting a taste of life as a parent helping with projects for my own boys. NHL has had a few of them here and there, he is a second grader after all. On Tuesday, JSL (3) came home with his first ever school assignment from nursery school. I smiled as I watched the little guy get so excited that he had homework. I read the note that was on a large sheet of construction paper:

Dear Parents,

In conjunction with the upcoming holiday of Thanksgiving, we will be focusing on our families.

Your homework is to depict what your family enjoys doing together. Use pictures, stickers, etc.

Homework is due Friday, Nov. 12th.

Have fun,

JSL’s Teachers

So, JSL has been talking non-stop about doing his homework (I need to record this excitement to use for when he gets older). Thursday, he helped me to pick out some photos. We went to CVS and had them printed out. Then we sat down on the floor to arrange them on the paper. He helped me to glue them on (had special photo glue I was testing), and then added fun stickers of his choice from my collection. Here is the final result:

JSL's First project for school

So my question for you this week:

If you have children, what has your favorite project been that they have brought home? If you do not have kids, or they are too little, what was your favorite as a child?

TheAngelForever

P.S. Be sure to stop by and enter my Mastermind Game giveaway and TechyDad’s Mastermind Animal Tower giveaway.

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Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the linky there if you are participating.

Aloha Friday by Kailani at An<br<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
/><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
Island<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
Life

Aloha #125

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