Category: Family

The Gift of JOY: With Hasbro Joy For All

This post was sponsored by Hasbro’s Joy For All brand  as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central. All opinions expressed in my post are my own.

This is truly my favorite time of year.  I remember as a little girl waiting anxiously Christmas Eve night for the next morning to come.  I would eventually nod off from the excitement & thrill of the day.  As I’ve grown older it’s less about the presents and more about being with family & watching the joy in my own child’s eyes.

I want to tell you about a special person in our lives, Terence’s Grandma.  She’s the sweetest person.  I’ve had the joy of knowing her over the past 15 years and now that she’s in an assisted living home, it’s our turn to take care of her.  You see, it doesn’t have to be something big to make someone’s day.  Just a hug, phone call, or a visit makes all the difference.  The truth is that we can’t be there all the time and unfortunately a lot of people are left alone when they get older without any family or visitors at all….this breaks my heart.

Hasbro has come out with a great new “toy” for seniors called Joy For All.  I let Connor babysit the cat (we named her Chloe) & the dog (we named him Max) until he could give them to his Great-Grandma.  He absolutely LOVED them!  They are so realistic it’s CRAZY!  Hasbro has always been a great toy brand, and now they are striving to bring happiness to our beloved Grandmas and grandpa’s.

We went to visit Great-Grandma last weekend and brought her Chloe and Max.  She just adored them.  I can tell they are going to be well-loved at their new home.

HASBRO’S JOY FOR ALL™ Companion Pets have a unique two-way interaction that can help bring fun, joy, and companionship to our aging loved ones.  Joy For All Companion Pets can be powered off, on, and can also be muted at night.  They respond to built in sensors from motion and touch.  Batteries are also included so you can give it to your loved one right away!

The Joy for All Pup was Connor’s favorite because he is really wanting a dog this Christmas.  The Pup barks and turns his head when you talk to him.  He opens and closes his eyes.  Also, when you place your hand on his back you can feel a calming heartbeat.  It’s the most realistic dog…without the maintenance I have ever seen!

The Joy for All Cat is so adorable.  It’s fluffy fur is so soft and cuddly.  The cat purrs and meows.  It will even open and close its eyes too 🙂

We are so thankful for our new furry friends.  Grandma’s nursing home is going to use them for all the residents as a therapy tool.  I’m sure they will all love Max and Chloe just as much as we did.

Head to JoyForAll.com to purchase your very own JOY FOR ALL COMPANION PET today and use JOY2016 for 10% off your purchase!

Here is a sweet video of Great-Grandma and Chloe.  You can see how much she really loved her.  Instead of giving Grandma a robe or a pair of slippers this year….give her the gift of companionship.  Hasbro’s Joy For All is truly the best gift ever if you have someone living in a home.

Follow Joy For All on Instagram & Twitter for the latest!

Here is Grandma a week later…her nurse sent us a wonderful picture of her visiting
with the Joy for All Pup.  Seems like she is enjoying it so very much!

Christmas Gift Picks 2016

I adore this silhouette of Connor from Miss Thistle Shop. It’s a great gift for Grandparents or yourself 🙂 She does an amazing job!

Y’all I adore these Tecova’s boots and they are handmade here in Austin, TX.  For a handmade boot they are AMAZING quality and go with literally everything.  I get so many compliments on them whenever I wear them.

This Michael Kors Moss Convertable Tote is 40% off right now and is everything I love in a bag.  I cannot tell you how long I’ve been looking for this EXACT color!

I got one of these blankets last year at the Nordstrom sale and it’s one of my favorite items.  It’s Mama’s warm fuzzy blanket.  I take it with me EVERYWHERE!

A lot of people ask what kind of camera I use.  I shoot with a Nikon D750 FX-format Digital SLR Camera Body.  If there is one thing I would tell everyone to invest in, it’s a great camera.

I found this confetti pouch from Packed Party last weekend while shopping with my friend Ellen.  I love it and it’s just a really cute travel item to stick in your bag.

These bracelets from Premier Designs are some of my favorite pieces and throughout the day I find myself looking at them as a reminder.  No matter what you need to hear.

This Kikkerland Selfie Light is awesome!  The light is super bright and if you are ever out at night you know how frustrating taking pictures can be.

These 2-in-1 Mini Fan for iPhone/iPad and Android – Pink, Blue & Green – 3-Pack Bundle are the perfect stocking stuffer.  If you are like me and always a hot sweaty mess, this is the perfect item to keep in your purse on a hot day or during a hot flash.

I saw these cuties at Christmas in Cowtown this year.  They are called Warmies, I got Connor the Intelex Cozy Microwaveable Plush, Puppy and are soooooo soft. You warm them in the microwave for a few minutes before bed and they smell soothing and he loves to sleep with it.

 

So that’s my short but sweet list of Christmas picks for 2016.  What have you found that is super cool and fabulous this year?  I’m always down for checking out new stuff!

xo Becky

ICE! at The Gaylord 2016 + 50% Off Coupon!

This was our 4th year to attend ICE! at The Gaylord Texan and we always enjoy it.  It’s become a family tradition and it’s a nice way to start the holidays.  Yes, it’s freezing cold…but totally worth it.  The time and talent that goes into the ICE! exhibit each year is extraordinary.  It’s definitely something you have to see to believe.

I don’t think Connor was excited at all right?dsc_8378

Before you tour the ICE! exhibit you watch a video of how everything is created by the artists.  And then…it starts SNOWING 🙂

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Connor sure has grown into the blue coat over the years…this was his very first time to go to ICE!
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Here he is at 6 years old.

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We walked through this really cool illusion of characters telling stories.dsc_8368 dsc_8372

You can also get your photo taken before you tour the ICE! exhibit.dsc_8373

This year’s theme was “Here Comes Santa Claus”  Follow along and read the stories together as you walk through each room.dsc_8379 dsc_8380 dsc_8381 dsc_8382 dsc_8383 dsc_8385 dsc_8386

ADULTS:  Take a look at this bar made completely out of ice.  Frozen or on the rocks maybe?dsc_8391 dsc_8393 dsc_8396 dsc_8397

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Of course one of our very favorite things to do is the ice slide.  dsc_8401 dsc_8398

I love that at the end of the exhibit every year they recreate the nativity scene.  This is what Christmas is truly about.

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I hope you get a chance to visit the ICE! exhibit at The Gaylord Texan….it truly is a sight to behold.  Until next year…”Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”

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Our New Home: Before & After

This is probably going to be a looooong and picture heavy post, but a lot of you have asked questions about our new house and I’m excited to share them 🙂

Of course like any new home we have our hopes and dreams of doing all sorts of things to make it our own…and hopefully some day down the line that will happen.  Most of you know we searched for over a year and put in close to 30 offers before we found our house. Our realtor Courtney was AMAZING…if you would like her info let me know! We love it because we got to stay in Connor’s same Elementary school and we’ve got lots of good friends who live in the same neighborhood.

Okay, so first off let’s start off with the entry way.  The before photos are all the listing pictures.

BEFORE:

The style was nice, but we aren’t really “Tuscan” style people and the faux brick reminded me of the Olive Garden.

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Entry AFTER:

We retextured all the walls and painted them a nice clean white.  We used Sherwin Williams “Westhighland White”.  The new fixture is from Savoy House.

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Eventually I’d like to put an entry table or mirror from like these from Wayfair.

LIVING ROOM:

The living room was all brown and it doesn’t have any natural light or windows except what is coming in from other rooms.  So we really wanted to brighten up the space.  We used “Westhighland White” again and we just love the way it turned out.  We had a great painter and builder for our fireplace remodel.  If you want their information and live in the DFW area, please email me at beckylbranch@gmail.com and I’d be happy to give it to you!

BEFORE:

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AFTER:
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New ceiling fan is from Savoy House. Our fireplace remodel was done by Brian and Melissa Bellows.  Everything turned out great!  We covered up most of the brick and restructured the built-ins to fit the TV.  This is the furniture we had in our last house.  Eventually I’d like to get a sectional or some accent seating for this room.  Also, I’m not sure how to place framed photos because of the panelled wood….so we’ll see.dsc_8561 dsc_8558

I think a couple of these chairs would look great in this room.  They are light and we definitely could use the extra seating.

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The OFFICE:

This room is sort of like our catch-all room right now.  I have a desk and chair and that’s pretty much it.  I’d love to do some sort of chalkboard wall or gallery wall above the desk.  That would look really fun!

BEFORE:

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AFTER:

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Inspiration pic:

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KITCHEN:

The kitchen was a dark brown and the walls were heavily textured.  We re-finished the walls and painted them “Natural Choice” by Sherwin Williams.  The cabinets are “Westhighland White” by Sherwin Williams.  Painting the kitchen white opened it up so much!

BEFORE:

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wall-texture-before

AFTER:

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I love this kitchen fixture from Savoy House.  Someday we would LOVE to put a barn door where the kitchen enters into the laundry room to cancel out the noise that comes when you wash clothing.
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I absolutely LOVE this hutch.  It used to be black and I finally opened up my china that was in the original boxes from our wedding 15 years ago to put in there.  LOL!

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DINING ROOM:

BEFORE:

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The colors weren’t really us.  We removed the doors going into the kitchen to create a better flow and replaced the chandelier to something more modern from Savoy House.  I wanted to go really bold in here because the rest of the house is white.  We chose Sherwin Williams “Peppercorn” for the walls and painted the entire wall, trim and all.

I love the look of this room now.  We don’t have anything in it yet, but hopefully some day and I’ll share with you how everything turns out.  I know we want light furniture in here because the walls are so dark.

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GUEST BATH:

BEFORE:

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We just cleaned up the walls, retextured them, and painted the cabinets white.  It really freshened up the space.

AFTER:

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Mantle makeover:

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The bedrooms all stayed pretty much the same.  We still have a lot we hope and dream to do, but unfortunately money doesn’t grow on trees.  We are taking it one small project at a time.

We are also pool owners now.  Neither one of us have ever had a pool, so this is new and we are learning how to take care of it.  I think we are going to really enjoy it in the summer time 🙂  Especially since summer in Texas lasts FOREVER!is2rxmhmeg7rtm0000000000

We are so happy here and thankful for our new home after a long journey.  We know God had the perfect timing and the perfect home for us.  I look forward to sharing with you all my design and decor ideas in the future.

Stay tuned…

Who Wants to Win Some Christmas CASH???

Me and some of my favorite little elves (I mean friends) have teamed up this Christmas so you can WIN SOME CASH!

What’s more exciting than a pocket full of cash for the holidays? Winning it of course! A group of bloggers got together to create this $200 PayPal Holiday Giveaway to give away to one of our special readers for the holidays. That’s right, one lucky winner will win all the cash, but first, let me introduce you to the bloggers who helped make this giveaway possible.

$200 PayPal Holiday Giveaway

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Bloggers that helped this $200 PayPal Holiday Giveaway become possible are from the Dallas/Fort Worth area. We decided to give a little back this year to show our appreciation to all of our readers. We appreciate you all so much…and we all hope you have a wonderful holiday season and a sparkling New Year!

Michele, owner of Modern Mom Life – she’s crazy busy as she prepares for a new addition to her family.

Becky, owner of The Java Mama – she’s even crazier busy with a new house, her photography business, and all her son’s activities.

Kim, owner of Forever Green Mom she’s just hoping to relax during the Thanksgiving holiday – that’s all!

Gena, owner of Ginger Casa – always has her hands full with her 3 boys.

Shannon, owner of Everyday Best – Shannon just rebranded her blog and you ought to see how pretty it looks!!

Keriann, owner of Toy Queen – she’s got some great things happening over at her blog for this holiday season.

Julie, owner of Julie is Coco and Cocoa – if you haven’t seen Julie’s craft projects you are missing out. She’s the best at crocheting!!

Amy, owner of Mainly Homemade – she’s always cooking up something special.

When you get the chance, check us out!!!

$200 PayPal Holiday Giveaway

Giveaway starts 11/17 and ends Dec. 5, 2016, at 11:59pm CST. One lucky winner will win the full $200 PayPal. US only and entrants must be 18 years or older to participate. The winner will be contacted by Kim at Forever Green Mom (email rememberKim@verizon.net) via email, so please make sure Rafflecopter has your current email address. The winner will have 24 hours to claim their prize or another winner may be chosen. Once I have the winner’s information, payment will immediate be sent via PayPal. Good luck!! Remember, the more options you do, the higher your odds of winning. We kindly ask that you not unfollow us after the giveaway has ended. You never know…we may have another giveaway or two up our sleeves and you wouldn’t want to miss it out. Thank you!!

 

ENTER HERE!!!

Renovation Reality & Pinterest Dreams

As most of you know we moved into our new home about a month ago.  So far we are loving it!  We knew we wanted to stay in a certain area and stuck to our guns when it came to that and I’m so glad we did.  We did look outside of this area, but we kept coming back and hoping and praying something would turn up in our desired location.

Connor got to trick-or-treat in our new neighborhood last night 🙂

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We moved into an apartment during the summer of 2015, only to renew the lease two more times.  It was over a year long process of searching in DFW for the perfect home. To be honest I thought we would never find our home.

I truly believe we found the perfect place thanks to a lot of hard work and a great team!

We have done some renovation projects to our new house, and we still have a lot more we’d like to do.  That’s the thing about houses…it never really ends!  We painted the kitchen and living room a bright white and it made such a difference.  We made changes that included paint, lighting, fireplace, and a few other cosmetic details.

Living room BEFORE:

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Living room AFTER:

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I’ll share more with you on all the changes we made in another blog post.  Today I want to talk to you about home equity.  Although we’ve made some major improvements in our new home we do have a “wish list” that we still want to tackle in the future.  That list includes the bathrooms and maybe a mud room some day.  We’d like to put a barn door where the laundry room is.  It’s so fun to dream up how you envision your home in the years to come.

Capital One has some great home equity tools on their website.  If you are thinking of a remodel, but don’t know where to start I encourage you to take a look.  I’ve never been happier than investing in a home we know we are going to be in years to come.  It’s money well spent and I can’t wait to make all the memories and future visions come true.

Whether you’re remodeling your home or consolidating debt, Capital One is here to help with simply smarter tools that help you choose the right option for your situation. I know by using the right tools and having a plan we can save to make those dreams come to life.

By visiting capitalone.com/home-equity you can get a customized rate offer, an estimated loan amount, and even begin the application process.  There are no fees and no impact to your credit score either.  So when we are ready to replace those sea shell sinks in the bathroom we can start the process right away.13958064_840856172681733_2915495672524413337_o

The DFW area is booming right now, I can tell you that because it took us over a year and almost 30 STRONG offers on homes to figure that out.  It’s a battlefield out there y’all.  Be prepared to bring your A-game.  

Check out these Dallas Fort-Worth Survey Results:

  • The DFW real estate market is thriving. And with higher home prices and smaller supply available on the market, 58 percent of homeowners in DFW anticipate home improvement expenses in the next two years.
  • As DFW residents plan ahead for these projects, only 25 percent have taken out a home equity line of credit previously and nearly seven in ten (68 percent) admit to facing obstacles in obtaining a loan.
  • When asked to identify these specific challenges, 33 percent of respondents cited the amount of paperwork needed and 29 percent indicated not knowing exactly where they stood in the application process.
  • With these obstacles in mind and as residents go through the process for the first time, Capital One is here to help with simply smarter tools that empower DFW residents to take charge with the support they need on their own terms.

If you are in the market right now, or just want to make your Pinterest dreams come true, don’t forget to check Capital One.  You can see how much equity you have to play with right away & make your dreams a reality.

Here’s to many more memories to come…

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I was selected for this opportunity as a member of CLEVER and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

School Halloween Treats

I always like getting crafty when it comes to Connor’s school holidays.  This was the easiest treat….

 

Just get a bag of Sixlets at your local grocery store.  You can use the free spider printable below.  (Just click on it to make it bigger, then right click and save to your desktop)

We have the cutest little spiders 🙂
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Just glue or tape to the back of the spider’s face.  I used cardstock so the paper was a bit heavier.  Have fun and happy Halloweeeeeeeen!spider-2