Mother’s Day is fast approaching, and I have a really fun giveaway for you fellow Utahns from Harmons Grocery!
I had a really fun time browsing my local Harmons for some of my favorite items to giveaway to one of my readers! I love browsing the isles at Harmons, they have the best stuff! So many cool non-grocery items too! Have you seen their kitchen section! My happy place!
If you’re still in need of some ideas on what to get your favorite Mother, Harmons has an amazing floral and gift section! They also have some amazing recipes online that focus on showing Mom your love through food! They are also offering hand-made cheesecakes, freshly topped by a pastry chef at all their locations May 9th from 11 am-7 pm, that would make for a nice Mother’s Day dessert!
There are some real goodies in this basket, and they would make a great gift for your Mother for Mother’s Day, or keep it for yourself for a little treat!
Here’s a run down of the items you can win from Harmons Grocery!
Insulated picnic basket
My favorite Pop art Rosemary Truffle popcorn
Lindt chocolates
Nail polish
My favorite microplane zester and grater
A lavender mint bath bomb to help mom relax
A glass water bottle
Hand Lotion
Rose Lemonade
Dutch Waffles
Dish Towels in my favorite color
A teeny tiny succulent from Harmons floral department
Beehive Lavender Lemongrass soap
My favorite Tea Tree oil Shampoo and Conditioner
Harmons peanut butter brownies, the best!
Stem Gem Strawberry Huller gadget
You have until Friday May 9th at midnight to enter! Enter below using Rafflecopter! In the comments below tell me who you would like to give this basket to and why! (mandatory to win!) (or maybe keep it for yourself 😉 ) {GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED, AND WINNER HAS BEEN NOTIFIED. THANKS SO MUCH FOR PARTICIPATING!!}
I’m partnering with Baggallini on today’s post. Baggallini is an accessories company that sells beautiful handbags, accessories, wallets, and travel gear. Be sure to also check them out on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, and Instagram. Thank you so much for being supportive of our sponsors, so Armelle Blog can stay up and running!
As you know, my little family loves to adventure together! We love to explore places we’ve been, and new places too! We packed up to spend the day in downtown Salt Lake City. We feel lucky to live in such a beautiful state, and Salt Lake is home to so many amazing things! After getting a little attention from the 2002 Winter Olympics, many people visit Salt Lake for our beautiful mountains, gorgeous outdoor opportunities, and family friendly atmosphere! If you haven’t had a chance to visit Salt Lake City, you should put it on your list, it’s a great place!
Packing up for a day away with the family, I end up bringing along a few things that I wouldn’t normally carry around all the time, but I’ve learned over the years that it is better to come prepared!
Even though we are out of the diaper stage (Yay!!) There are still a few staples that I try to carry around that make our lives easier. So, I threw them all in my Baggallini Avenue Tote in kiwi, and we headed out for our day in Salt Lake City! The Avenue Tote was the perfect companion for our day in Salt Lake City, it was able to hold so many items to keep us all happy.
A Few of my Favorite Items to Tote Around in my Avenue Tote:
A good book to read in the car- One Good Life, By my friend Jill Nystul
Umbrella- The spring weather in Utah can be unpredictable
Honest Wipes– we are out of diapers, but these come in handy for sticky fingers
Teeny tiny Real Salt sea salt shaker- comes in handy
Business Cards
Various Snacks– I get hangry (hunger + anger) easily. It isn’t pretty. I carry snacks, for me and my kids!
Notebook (Liberty of London)
Favorite pens and fine point sharpie
Iphone, can’t live without it
I’m so excited to be giving away a Baggallini bag to one of my readers!
I’m giving away this gorgeous Baggallini Grace Tote bag in pewter!
I fell in love with the Grace tote because of it’s size and many storage compartments, and little zip bag that is inside!
Here are the details on how to win the Grace Tote in Pewter (a $129.95 dollar value!):
Visit Baggallini’s website, and let me know what item is your favorite! Leave it in a comment below! Then, enter on the Rafflecopter giveaway below! With bonus entries if you follow our social media, mean more changes to win!
You have until Friday May 8, 2015 (at midnight) to enter!! {GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED, AND WINNER HAS BEEN NOTIFIED. THANKS SO MUCH FOR PARTICIPATING!!}
This post is brought to you by OurPact, a technology management app for your mobile devices that can schedule internet and app use on your child’s mobile device based on their schedule. Set the number of hours your children can access their mobile apps, Block the internet and apps at a touch, or block all apps as you see fit.
Thank you so much for supporting our sponsors that keep Armelle Blog running. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
We live in a mobile world, the technology available at our finger tips, didn’t even exist a few years ago! It really is amazing, but at the same time overwhelming.
I mean, iPads and iPhones didn’t even really exist when I have my first child eight years ago. But, now ask just about any kid around, and they can tell you what a smart phone and tablet is, and they can probably show you just how to use and operate it.
It really is a different world from when I was growing up!
Here are a few crazy facts for you. The average children spends more than 50 hours per week in front of a screen. And, that is counting only out of school time. What? That is just insane! The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no more than 2 hours of screen time per day, max!
Everywhere you go, whether it is the grocery store, a restaurant, a park, while people are on walks outside, you see children (and lets face it, adults too) glued to a mobile device. I wish I could say I wasn’t guilty, but I’m just as bad as the next. I am on my phone a lot!
I will say, that my husband and I over the years, have really tried to limit our children from their exposure to mobile devices. Believe it or not, neither of us have any children’s games on our smartphones, we never have. Our children aren’t allowed to play with our phones, it’s always been the rule in our house, and that’s just the norm over here. We do have a few educational apps on our iPad that we downloaded a few years ago for our children for a long plane flight. But, other than that we do try to keep them off of mobile devices as much as we can. I believe strongly that children’s brains are developing constantly in these formative years, and too much screen time has always worried me for my young children. Now we just need to get grandma on board our plan. Wink.
Although we really make a big effort to keep our children off of mobile devices, (don’t get me started on their TV watching) we aren’t naive to the fact, that our children will be using mobile devices more and more as they get older. They will need it soon for their school work, or the convenience for us to get a hold of them. They also will need to learn how to balance their use of technology, and know that while there is so much good from technology, there can also be a lot of bad.
As a parent of young children, and aunt to teenagers, I always try to stay up to date on what apps are out there, and what the kids are using these days. I think it is always important to stay informed of what is out there, and have a game plan on how to deal with it. My kids may not have social media accounts or devices today. But, they will one day. And, we have to be prepared to teach them how to be responsible with all that they have at their fingertips. And, after many discussions with other moms with little ones. It is a constant worry among all of us that our children need to learn responsibility when it comes to technology, and some children (and adults) are just down right addicted, and that’s not good for anybody.
I think my kids would live on the iPad if we let them. It isn’t all bad. In fact, some of the apps are great for educational purposes. My kids love going over their letters, doing math problems, and learning to read.
But, then it quickly turns into, “hey, they had more time than me.” “Give me the ipad!” And, usually some kind of a melt down occurs, and usually some fighting between siblings.
As I played around with the OurPact app, I was surprised how quick and easy it was to set up. All you have to do is download the app onto your Iphone (coming out on Android in a few months). Then head to a link on the mobile device that you would like to set up with your device to control the app and internet use. I was able to block access to internet and apps from my phone for our ipad with just the touch of a button, make a schedule to time that I allow my children to use the apps, and I could grant access at any time as well from my phone. My kids thought it was magic when the apps would disappear, then show up again. Wink.
The nice thing is you can set up a profile for each one of your kids, and their devices and run it from your device. You can allow more screen time as they earn it, or take it away. The thing I like about this app is that it is great for teenagers, little children, as well as adults. If you feel like your spending a little too much time glued to your phone. Maybe you can set yourself some limitations, and set up times where you won’t be tempted to check your social media and schedule times to shut off your apps, and spend that time with your family instead giving them your full attention. You can set a certain time of the day to be mobile device free, and if you are really looking to detox or be held accountable, you could give your spouse the access to block or grant you access to your apps and set the schedule so you can’t cheat. That might be a little intense, but we all know that phone addiction is real. For old, and young!
And, as a little push to help you, and me, manage our screen time. I came up with ..
14 fun ideas / activities to do with your children instead of sitting around on your mobile devices:
1) Go for a bike ride.
2) Visit a local farm.
3) Go for a hike.
4) Grab your lunch, and take it on a picnic.
5) Explore your city.
6) Do some hands-on crafts.
7) Build a snowman (winter is always the hardest time for us to stay off electronics), getting outside can help!
8) Pick up an outside Hobby like skiing when the weather is freezing outside, and inside boredom hits.
10) Go to your nearest lake or body of water, and let the kids throw in rocks or play in the sand.
11) Fly a kite.
12) Hit your local splash pad park.
13) Do some scientific experiments. We put some whipping cream in a jar, and shook it until it turned into butter!
14) Explore a magical place.
In this technology driven world, it is easy to start creating an online world, when the real world is out there too. It is just up to us to find and maintain that balance and use technology in a way that we are controlling it, not it is controlling us. And, hopefully teach our children to do the same. I know I could always use the reminder. 😉
