Saturday, 25 June 2011

Disintegrating sandals and grade 6 graduations

Several years ago, I purchased my all-time favourite pair of leather sandals at Sears. They had a 3 inch wedge heel and were the most comfortable pair of footwear I have ever owned. I decided to wear my dear footwear friends to my eldest daughter's grade 6 graduation ceremony this past week.

My poor sandals didn't survive the 3 block walk :( The heels literaly disintegrated on me. I have never seen anything like it before. So I had to literally run back home to change them, on my toes. Well I ran halfway home only to realize my keys were still in the stroller, so back I went to get them. Then I ran all the way back home to put something else on and ran all the way back in time for the ceremony.

It was a lovely ceremony. Very sweet. And yes, I will admit to the occasional tear in my eye. Each of the kids got to share their favourite memories and the principal and 2 of the teachers gave fabulous speeches. The grade 5s, which includes my son, sang a song to them in French and one of the moms had put together an incredible slideshow. It was ridiculously hot in the gym, but was a very memorable ceremony followed by an enormous selection of goodies to eat and drink.

All the kids in the class were all dressed up and looking so much older than when they started JK 8 years ago. I just can't believe how quickly my once little girl is growing up. It feels like only yesterday that she came running out of school to my her little brother and I for a hug, excited to share her day, and now she is receiving Academic medals and moving on to Senior public school and starting French Immersion. It is a little sad yet so exciting to see how she is growing up, but one thing never changes, and that is how proud she makes me each and every day. My favourite sandals on the other hand...

Camping in the back yard

Well apparently J and the 3 older kids are sleeping out in the back yard in the tent tonight.

The oldest two are almost 12 and 11 and have been wanting to do this for about 8 years, haha.

I took one of the cats out to check it out earlier. She sniffed around the edges of the inside of the tent and promptly found a hole and got out. Luckily she only went to sniff the BBQ so I got her back quickly.

They are equipped with their Melissa and Doug sleeping bags, I think I saw a Zoobie or two, a Lego flashlight, and my 4 year old has her Melissa and Doug flashlight and Turtle Gus (all except the Lego flashlight were purchased at www.babyheist.com for awesome prices).

Should be interesting to see who lasts the night. Needless to say, baby and I will be sleeping in the house with the cats ;)

Thursday, 16 June 2011

Baby Heist - My number one shopping site

Before I even began this blog, I was thinking of future topics. One of the first topics I thought of was www.babyheist.com. This is by far my favourite online shopping site. Why? Well that is not a simple question to answer. There is not one reason, there are countless reasons.

BabyHeist is a CANADIAN company, which is awesome in itself. It is run by two, yes only two, Canadian moms in Burlington ON. Each of these moms has 3 or more kids at home. And they are two of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet. I have only ever had contact with them through email, text messages and facebook, besides one phone call,  but they feel like dear friends. They are incredibly kind, generous, helpful, funny, and have so many other fantastic qualities.

If you have ever shopped at daily deal sites like BabySteals, BabyHalfOff, etc it is a similar concept. For the most part, there is one deal, aka heist, a day. These are baby, kid, family products at 40% and more off. They have had sought after items like Turtle Gus, Zoobies, Trunkis, and so much more. I have learned about so many new products through their heists. A major difference is that once an item is in your cart, it will not be taken out. You have 10 minutes to do some research, decide if you want to purchase and check out, it will not be taken out before that 10 minutes unless you take it out yourself. Payment is through PayPal or credit card not linked to paypal.

They also have what is called SHH - meaning Secret Hidden Heists. These are bonus heists :)

Another feature they have that I LOVE is called UGH - Unknown Goodie Heist. For these they give you a few hints, let you know how many items are included and the age they are for but you are essentially buying a surprise bag/box. Usually at a savings of over 50% of retail!! I have a slight addiction to these and have purchased at least 15 of them - in them I have received items like A+A dream blanket, Trunki, Zoobies, Sleep Sheep, many Melissa and Doug products, Fleurville diaper bags, and so much more! I have never been disappointed.

Another feature I love is called the BOA - Bag of Awesomeness. These are also surprise bags, but YOU give them the hints and likes and dislikes. They work around them to fill this bag for you at substantial savings over retail. These are in various sizes from $25 to $100 usually. I have also purchased at least 5 of these and have never been disappointed. I have received Snap Me Swimwear, Trunki, Spaloosh wooden toy box, Melissa and Doug products and so much more.  Love them!

As if all that isn't enough, they have MILD - each month a special Mommy In Love with Deals is announced. This lucky mama received advance notice of heists, special shipping priveledges and more.

The wonderful BH ladies offer very competitive shipping prices (as well as free local pickup) and have the absolute best customer service on the planet. They are very accommodating. I really truly cannot say enough good things about them. I have never had a mediocre, much less bad, experience with them. In this day and age where the customer is no longer always right, the ladies at BabyHeist are truly a breath of fresh air.

They have also created a great Facebook community with lots of very helpful and friendly moms. Once they reach 10,000 fans they are having a HUGE giveway like they did at 8000 fans. Over 100 prizes to be won, and you can enter to win now. http://www.facebook.com/babyheist?ref=ts

These two wonderful women also have two other businesses called momsfinds.ca and DK Baby Designs but I will tell you about them another time.

I highly recommend that you check out this fabulous site. New heists are posted at 10 a.m. daily at http://www.babyheist.com

This is a picture of my 4 year old on a fabulous BabyHeist mail day in my house, the big box included the BOA with my toy box in it.