Fun Friday: Win Tickets to the Houston Children’s Festival!

Houston friends!

You have a chance to win, right here on my blog, 4 tickets to THE Largest Children’s Festival in the United States!!! (See Giveaway info below!)

If you’ve never been to the Houston Children’s Festival, it is so much fun! There are so many games, face painting (my daughter’s favorite), sports-themed activities (my son’s favorite), plus live music & performances!!

This year, I’m beyond excited because:

1) I’m a Disney freak of all things Disney. 🙂

2) One of Disney’s biggest stars right now (and another one of my kids’ favorites) will be at the Festival — DOVE CAMERON!!

In case you’re not into Disney as much as I am (I mean, as much as my kids are … ok, as much as I am…HA!), Dove Cameron is the star of the Disney Channel show “Liv and Maddie”and the Disney movie “Descendants” where she plays the daughter of Maleficent played by Kristin Chenoweth of Broadway fame (I’m a huge Broadway fan, too!) See why I’m just a tiny little bit RIDICULOUSLY excited?

(affiliate link*)

Dove is actually having huge success with her latest video, already at 10 million+ views! It’s the Descendants-themed cover of Christina Aguilera’s “Genie in a Bottle.” (Side note: As a relatively conservative mom, I appreciated that they kept this video on the clean side, including changing a lyric to “Gotta ask me the right way.” Thank you, Disney!)

Note: The Descendants photo is an affiliate link, which means, at no extra cost to you, I receive compensation if you make a purchase using the link.

 

But wait, there’s more! It’s not all about Disney (although I’d be happy with that!) If your kids love those dudes in a half-shell who crave pizza and have “Turtle Power,” they’re going to love this!

Imagine your kids watching as Donatello, Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael get out of their “Turtle Van”and maybe even your kid’s favorite turtle WAVES at them or gives them a high-five???

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles will be at this year’s Houston Children’s Festival both days, April 23rd and 24th, meeting fans each day.

And as much mega-sized FUN as the Festival is, it’s much more than an event designed for kids to just have fun.

The Houston Children’s Festival really has a heart for kids.

For the past 27 years, the McDonald’s Houston Children’s Festival presented by Baker Hughes has raised over $5.2 million for Child Advocates, Inc.

If you’re not familiar with Child Advocates, they are an incredible organization, helping children in Foster Care who are victims of abuse and neglect. The number of reported cases of child abuse are tragically too high in Harris County. In 2013, it was a staggering 35,729 kids. That is inconceivable. Thank God for Child Advocates and the volunteers who look out for the best interests of these precious kids; those who become the one “constant” person the child can count on during difficult times.

I thank God that the Festival’s long-time support of Child Advocates is continuing in this 28th year. My prayer is that in 2016 and beyond even more children can receive the help and support they need to grow and thrive, knowing they are valuable and very loved. So when you go to the Festival, you know your support is helping change lives.

GIVEAWAY TIME!!! 

YOU can enter to win a family 4 pack of tickets to the Houston Children’s Festival!

You have until April 8th to enter and win. All you need to do is have a little fun with this Social Media Scavenger Hunt!

If you have a computer, phone or tablet, you’re almost there!

You have three things to hunt for and complete. The links below make it easy!

Once you visit each site (on your computer or with the apps on your phone or tablet), make sure you like or follow the Houston Children’s Festival pages.

1. Follow the Houston Children’s Festival on Instagram.
2. Follow the Houston Children’s Festival on Twitter
3. Like the Houston Children’s Festival Page on Facebook

One Final Step!

When you’re done, send me an e-mail to CoppeliaMarie (at) gmail (dot) com and let me know you did it! Please include your contact info (name, address, email, phone number). That way I can contact you if you are the winner of the Family 4 pack of tickets to the Festival!

(Note: I’m receiving products or compensation for this post. All opinions are mine.)

Have fun! And I hope to see you at the Festival!

~Coppelia

 

Celebrate Easter All Year Long!

I hope your Easter was filled with a lot of colorful, confetti-egg-filled fun. How about we keep it going all year?

One way we do it is with the Bible app for kids. Seriously, my kids ages 10 and 6 LOVE it!

It’s super cute (they ask for “cartoony Jesus”), and it’s interactive, too! You click through the stories on your phone or tablet and people move, you click on diamonds and surprise little things that pop up throughout (so-called Easter Eggs, as gamers call them).

The same people who put together our favorite Bible app for kids have an actual Bible you & your kids can enjoy 365 days a year, not just on Easter!

If you click on this Bible icon,  check it out and buy it, thank you! This is my affiliate link, which means purchases made here give me a small commission, at no extra cost to you.

Thanks and have an amazing, life-changing, fun and Happy Easter that lasts you all year! Jesus is Alive! He is Risen!

 

Love,

Coppe

Skate, Spin and Save on Spring Break (and beyond!)

If you happen to be on Spring Break like we are here in Houston, and you have kids who just want to have fun, check out these two fun activities (a free one & a cheap one).

I took my kids and we had a BLAST!
Let’s go with the FREE idea first:

Discovery Green has a really cool, interactive display called “Los Trompos” (The Spinning Tops).   

  
 We were there for about an hour, running around the park, spinning on “Los Trompos” and doing it over & over again!

My son was cracking up because he thought we were spinning on Trump-os! (not sure what to do with that political statement! Haha!)

Going to Discovery Green park in downtown Houston is free, but you might have to pay for parking.

Discovery Green is free & fun all year, but Los Trompos are only there through March 22nd. Go during the next few days so you don’t miss it!

The CHEAP idea was a Family Roller Skate Night at Humble Family Skate Center. 

I have to give a shout out to my friend Stacey who said it was just $1 to go in and $2 for skate rental (you can bring your own skates & make it even cheaper!) 

Our family joined my friend Stacey’s family. All together, our kids were ages 6 to 17 and everyone loved it! Even my two kids, the younger ones at 6 and 10 years old, who are still learning to skate,  laughed and fell and picked themselves up and at the end of the night, asked if we could do it again next week.

Turns out we can, because it looks like they have regular Dollar Nights every week!

 

I hope you have a great Spring Break! Share your own ideas below! I’d love to hear them!

Fun Friday: St. Patrick’s Edition!

I hope you’re having a Fun Friday! If not, there are some fun ideas you can do this weekend in Houston that you may not have thought of.

I didn’t realize how close we were to St. Patrick’s Day!

Every year, I come across the most fun Pinterest ideas for Irish-themed things to do with the kids (and then never do them.) HA! But seriously — Green pancakes! Rainbow cupcakes with pot o’ gold chocolate coins! So much fun!

Well, the luck o’ the Irish be with you! For my Houston friends, the St. Patrick’s Day parade is tomorrow. So what you could do is start the celebration with some Friday Fun tonight and continue it into the weekend.

Of course, I went to Pinterest for some dessert ideas for tonight and found THIS. 

Forget the rainbow cupcakes.

These are Leprechaun Hat S’mores by The Cake Blog.com! WHAT?!

Let me know if you try them (or plan to!) Share in the comments below!

I don’t know if I’m crazy, but I think they actually look doable!

And then tomorrow, Saturday, March 12th, you can continue the Irish fun and check out Houston’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade, starting at 12 noon from Minute Maid Park!

Thanks to my friend Vicki of Houston on the Cheap for the parade info and more weekend fun ideas!

Have a Fun Friday!

 

Fun Friday: Chewbacca in California!

So apparently, today was “Take a Photo with Chewbacca Day.” This Walt Disney World photo showed up on my Instagram feed:
  

And earlier, visiting friends at my old work place, K-LOVE and Air 1 Radio, my friends Alida, Marya and I found him!

  

I was already having a BLAST, visiting friends in California while I’m here to sing/lead worship at a couple of churches. I think the Chewy encounter just made it more fun!

I hope your Friday has been Fun! Tell me about it in the comments below! 

~Coppe

Fun Friday: Rodeo, free Improv and more!

It’s FUN FRIDAY TIME!!!! Woohooo! This is the part where we have fun just because it’s Friday!

Last time, I shared some Livin’ La Vida Disney fun, thanks to my sister, Emille.

Today, just in case you have kids, a limited budget and some free time this weekend, there’s a TON of ideas for what to do in Houston (for all my local peeps) to fill the next few days with fun.

Every week, my friend Vicki Powers puts together a list of Free Weekend Fun on her site, Houston on the Cheap.  I love checking it out because I always find AMAZING things to do. For example, if you’ve never gone to the Downtown Rodeo Parade, it’s tomorrow, Saturday, February 27th. And it’s totally worth checking out the fun, especially if you love all things Western. Our family is still fairly new to Texas and the first time we experienced the parade, we couldn’t believe it! There were a TON of horses, actual cowboys & cowgirls and a true celebration of western heritage. Really fun!

Speaking of Westerns and Rodeos, my kids had Go Texan day at school today. They figured that meant sister got a horsey ride from big brother. Oh, brother!

He was even making horsey faces and sounds. YEEHAW, y’all!

Thankfully, I got a nice picture of the kids, too! Did I say nice? I meant funny.

I think this is as nice as it gets. Love it!! These two are something else!

Now, if Rodeo is not your thing, how about a free improv class? That always makes me think of the TV show “Whose Line is it Anyway?” Old favorite!

Or if you’re into Disney movies like me, (and my Livin’ La Vida Disney sister), and you heard they’re doing a remake of the 1977 Pete’s Dragon (which my sister and I were freaking out over because that’s one of our favorite childhood movies), you’re going to love this!

Tomorrow night, at Central Green Park, they’re showing the original 1977 classic Pete’s Dragon … and it’s a FREE Movie Night! (Again, thanks to Houston on the Cheap for all this amazing info!)

That’s just an idea of all the fun stuff you can do in Houston THIS weekend! Feel free to pass this along to someone who needs some ideas for free (or cheap) family fun!

~Coppe

(Note: This post contains affiliate links. If you click on one of the product links and make a purchase, I’ll receive compensation, at no extra cost to you!)