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Mobile Cupcakes by Fluffalicious

Posted on October 22, 2010 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Imagine being able to order gourmet cupcakes and have them delivered to your house, or picking them up at a mobile cupcake truck. Dream no more, this is the reality for the Capital District of New York.

When I first saw the Fluffalicious truck driving around the region, I was curious. Curiosity led me to Facebook where I found more information. They have a website coming soon Fluffalicious.com, but it is still being constructed. On Monday, I read that the truck was going to be stationed near a store that I had to go to. This was perfect timing. TechyDad was home sick that day, and I thought cupcakes would help to perk him up.

When I arrived at the Fluffalicious truck, I was second in line. There were plenty of cupcakes left and a lot of flavors to pick from. It was a bit hard to narrow it down to six, but I managed. Here are the cupcakes that I bought for our family:

The first night, we selected three cupcakes and cut them into four pieces to share. See, we were not piggies and wanted to have something to look forward to the next night. I plan on further reviewing our cupcake experience, but wanted to quickly note –> THEY WERE DELICIOUS!

The cupcakes were fresh, moist, and full of the flavors you would expect from their titles. We took a lot of photos of the inside of the cupcakes, because they really do tell a story. They did not disappoint and my two big kids (that including TechyDad) keep asking to try more.

So my question for you this week is inspired by Flaffalicious:

Do you have a mobile cupcake truck by you? If you could create your own cupcake flavor masterpiece, what would it be?

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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 #122

Categories:
Aloha Friday food glorious food photos TechyDad yummy

Happy 10-10-10

Posted on October 10, 2010 9:02 am by TheAngelForever

Did you notice the calendar this week, or today perhaps? My husband, TechyDad, has been chatting it up for at least a week.

Why?

Well, because today is #10101010. He has been asking other bloggers to write about their life 10 years ago, and 10 years down the road. TechyDad has already written about our life as he sees it. Head on over to read and join in the fun. Be sure to link up so others can read about your 10-10-10 experience.

Categories:
fun looking back TechyDad web fun

Hosting a HEXBUG Party

Posted on October 4, 2010 1:31 pm by TheAngelForever

Hexbug logo

Did you ever look at a toy and wonder how it would keep the attention of a child? That was my initial reaction of Hexbugs. They looked cute and seemed like fun, but how would they keep hold up to my kids and our neighbors? Let me cut to the chase here, my boys and the neighbors were outside playing with the Hexbugs for over four hours! Yes, you read that right. On a nice fall day, the Hexbugs kept them engaged for the entire time.

Thanks to Mom Select, we were selected to host a Hexbug Nano Party. They sent us enough Hexbug Nano for each child to have three to keep. In addition to this, we received the Nano Bridge BattleHabitat Set, Nano Habitat Set, and a myrid of extra Hex Cells, Straight/Curved Bridges, batteries and more. We seriously had everything to create the ultimate Hexbug Nano celebration.

So you may be asking yourself, what is a HEXBUG? Here is a quick explanation:

Basically, HEXBUGS are mini-robotic bugs without the ick factor. Yes, these are MY kind of bug. Ones that will not bite, damange items or cost me money to hire an exterminator. In addition to this, kids (and/or adults) can register their HEXBUG online to track their collection, play games, learn about real science. We have not had a chance to do this yet, but NHL (7) is anxious to see what it is all about.

As we were setting up the pieces for the party, we noticed something immediately. The Hex Cells and bridge pieces were easy to connect. Seriously, our 7 year old had no issue, and even the 3 year old was almost able to do it alone. The other part we liked was that the small moveable pieces on the hex cells were attached. In other words, no little pieces floating around if you were connecting parts.

Then we took the Battle Bridge, extra habitat, hex cells and bridge pieces outside. While we waited for the neighbors to arrive, NHL and JSL set their HEXBUGS up to battle. Here is a video.

Then the neighbors started to arrive. The kids had a blast making up stories about their HEXBUG habitat. The battle zone was above a mall, the Hidden Mickey within, was the house for the girl HEXBUG population. It was hilarious to watch them play for hours. Here are just a few of the photos that captured our outdoor HEXBUG party.

Since I mentioned it before, here is our own version of the Hidden Mickey in our HEXBUG Nano Habitat!

The kids really did have a great time. Just listen to the excitement as the bugs raced around their habitat:

Oh, if you think the HEXBUGS are just for boys. Think again. Check out the littel area of the HEXBUG Nano habitat that our neighbor made – pretty creative if you ask me.

I know the kids look forward to playing outside together again with all of their HEXBUG Nano critters one day soon. A huge thank you to Mom Select and HEXBUG for making this possible. We will definitely be purchasing more HEXBUG products this holiday season to give away to family and friends.

Disclosure: This review and party HEXBUG was made possible by MomSelect and HEXBUG. They provided me with all of the items shown above to throw the ultimate HEXBUG Nano Party. The opinions of this review were mine and I received no other compensation.

Categories:
friends fun jsl laughs nhl photos play time Product review TechyDad video weekend

Puzzled by Perplexus

Posted on September 15, 2010 7:08 am by TheAngelForever

For more about Perplexus, please see TechyDad’s review about this amazingly fun puzzle that makes you really think two steps ahead.

Categories:
birthday Educational family fun TechyDad Wordless Wednesday

Hot Potatoes! The BEST of The Wiggles (Review & Giveaway)

Posted on August 19, 2010 12:56 pm by TheAngelForever

It’s confession time again. Seven years ago, when I was a first time mother, I was introduced to The Wiggles. At that time, they were part of Playhouse Disney and on several times a day. Now, The Wiggly Waffle is part of Sprout, which we sadly do not have on Time Warner Cable – BOO!.

When I first saw Greg, Anthony, Murray and Jeff, I didn’t know what to think. As a teacher, I was familiar with other children’s musical groups, but not this Aussie sensation. The true confession is I was not a fan at first. I would quickly turn off the television when The Wiggles would come on because I just did not get them.

My tune (pun not intended) changed when my son perked up and wanted to dance to their music. As a curious new mother, I looked at the background of the group. It was interesting to see that The Wiggles are educators. After a few shows, I was hooked. I liked the messages in their songs, and I especially enjoyed how the group managed to get kids and parents up off their rears to dance together to fun and catchy songs.

Fast forward seven years and we have been to three Wiggles concerts (and counting – I hope), own a lot of Wiggles DVDs and CDs, and frequently go to Wiggles World at Six Flags. We were at a concert just weeks before the official announcement of Greg handing over the yellow skivvie to Sam. These were big changes for kids and parents alike. We mourned losing Greg and wished him a speedy recovery, but looked forward to the future with Sam.

Recently, TechyDad and I were contacted by The Wiggles PR team to check out their new DVD called Hot Potatoes! The Best of The Wiggles (Amazon Affiliate link).

About Hot Potatoes! The Best of The Wiggles:

The most successful children’s entertainment group in the world has finally released a collection of their most loved songs, Hot Potatoes! The Best of The Wiggles. The Wiggles’ songs have drawn millions of people over the years to see their live concerts. The New York Times called The Wiggles, “the band that rocks the cradle” and this is certainly true. They have set records for their sold out performances everywhere from Madison Square Garden in New York to the Hammersmith Apollo in London to their home town of Sydney, Australia. Their songs are instantly memorable and get you wiggling in seconds! Those same songs have seen music royalty line up to record music with the fab four of fun! We’ve picked the best for you to listen to, but snap it up as this DVD will go like….hot potatoes!

The songs/videos included on this DVD are: -> Hot Potato, -> Can You (Point Your Fingers And Do The Twist?), -> Fruit Salad, -> Rock-A-Bye Your Bear, -> Toot Toot, Chugga Chugga, Big Red Car, -> Wake Up Jeff!, -> Wiggly Party, -> Captain Feathersword Fell Asleep On His Pirate Ship (Quack Quack), -> Wiggle Bay, -> The Monkey Dance, -> Get Ready To Wiggle, -> Go Santa Go, -> Dorothy (Would You Like To Dance?), -> Ooh It’s Captain Feathersword, -> Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport, -> Dressing Up, -> Move Your Arms Like Henry, -> Lights, Camera, Action, Wiggles!, -> Do The Owl, -> The Zeezap Song, -> Play Your Guitar With Murray, -> Rockin’ Santa!, -> To Have A Tea Party, -> Here Come The Chicken, -> Getting Strong!, -> Murray Had A Turtle, -> Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, -> I’m Dorothy The Dinosaur!, -> You Make Me Feel Like Dancing, -> Dr Knickerbocker, -> The Shimmie Shake!, -> Over In The Meadow, -> Wags The Dog Is Chasing His Tail, -> Monkey Man, -> Hot Poppin’ Popcorn

In addition to the songs listed above, there are a lot of special features on this DVD. A few of them include interviews with The Wiggles’ Mums, Original clips from 1991, and Growing up with The Wiggles (Clare and Larissa). Some of the special guests that are on the DVD are Kylie Minogue, Leo Sayer and Steve Irwin.

What we thought:

As I mentioned before, we have a lot of other Wiggles DVDs at our house.

Still, I think we have a new favorite Wiggles DVD. From the moment we put the DVD on, both of the kids were actively engaged. Hot Potatoes! The BEST of The Wiggles is chock full of Wiggly classics. As a parent, I really loved that before each song one of the familar Aussies comes out to introduce the songs. This really worked well with the flashback style that was used on the DVD. Yes, each of the songs is in the original format from their television show, DVD or live performance. Thanks to this, we are able to see both Sam and Greg in the yellow skivvy.

The other items that I really enjoyed were the extras. It was so much fun listening to the Mums of The Wiggles talk about their little boys. The women really were a hoot and we were able to learn a lot about Anthony, Murry, Sam and Jeff. My older son also enjoyed the section with Clare. Clare is Anthony’s niece who has grown up around the Wiggles. She appeared on earlier shows with them and now travels as one of the Wiggly Dancers. NHL recalled seeing her long ago and when we went to the Go Bananas show last fall.

There was no doubting what JSL thought about the DVD. Here is a glimpse of him in action at Nana and Papa’s house:

From the moment the DVD went on, he was non-stop singing, dancing and running around. He loved each and every song and asked for it again. When I asked what his favorite was, he said Popcorn.

If you are a Wiggles fan, we highly recommend adding this to your Wiggly collection. The best part, you could win a copy here!

Giveaway:

Thanks to The Wiggles, one lucky winner will receive their very own copy of Hot Potatoes! The BEST of The Wiggles DVD.

Rules for Giveaway:

MAIN RULE – Answer the following question: What is your all time favorite Wiggles song? Yes yours, not your childs (will be asking another bonus question below).

The following Bonus Entries may also be done. Please be sure to leave separate comments for each that you complete below to make sure you get the right number of entries.

1 Bonus Entry – Who will this DVD be for and what is their favorite song by The Wiggles?
1 Bonus Entry – Tweet about the giveaway on Twitter. Be sure to include @TheAngelForever and The BEST of The Wiggles DVDGiveaway in the Tweet. Please leave a direct link to your Tweet in a separate comment for each daily entry. Example Tweet (feel free to use): Get ready to Wiggle. Chance to #win The BEST of the Wiggles DVD from @TheAngelForever http://bit.ly/cAh1al. #Giveaway #kids
1 Bonus Entry – Subscribe to my RSS feed (or let me know if you already are) in a separate comment.
1 Bonus Entry – Who is your favorite Wiggle or character from The Wiggles and why?
1 Bonus Entry – Leave a comment on any of my non-giveaway posts from the month of July/August. Leave a comment here to let me know which one. This Bonus entry may be done only twice per person.
3 Bonus Entries – Add my blog button to your website and leave a link with the location. Be sure to give yourself 3 comments for credit.
5 Bonus Entries – Write a post on your blog linking to my blog about the giveaway. Be sure to leave 5 comments about this to get credit for all of your extra entries.

To enter, please follow the rules above within the comment section. Contest starts today August 19 and ends at 10:59 EST on September 2 , 2010. You do not have to be a blogger to enter, but must leave a valid e-mail address for me to contact you for mailing address once the giveaway is over. I will select the winner using random.org and contact you via e-mail. You will have 48 hours to claim the prize. If there is no response, another winner will be selected. Open to U.S. and Canada residents only. Also note that TechyDad is having a giveaway on his website where you increase your chances for another DVD there.

Disclosure: I received this DVD complimentary of The Wiggles PR agency in order to facilitate this review. They were also sweet and sent a few other Wiggly surprises for my sons that included a T-shirt, CD and Henry the Octopus doll. No other compensation was given. The opinions expressed in the review are my own and you can see we have been long time Wiggles fans. The Wiggles are also providing the giveaway item to my readers.