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Giving Gifts that Give Back

November 29, 2019 by Rachel 19 Comments

After becoming a mom, one thing became crystal clear — Christmas is 100%, entirely about the children. Not just my children, but all children. This holiday season my children and I are using the spirit of Christmas and shopping at Gordman’s to give back to St. Jude’s.

Teddy bear and baby

I took my littlest helper to our local Gordman’s to grab some gifts while the big kids were in school. Since our main prerogative for this trip was a mission to give back, we picked up some toys at deep discounts to donate to our local children’s hospital. This week we are wrapping the gifts and my kids are going to turn them over to kids who will be stuck in the hospital for the holidays.

Bear’s That Care

I also purchased a couple of Bear’s That Care! Bears That Care is a partnership between Gordman’s and St. Jude’s Research Hospital. Gordman’s will donate $2 of each Bear sold this season to St. Jude’s. St. Jude’s believes that no family should have to worry about a medical bill while just trying to make sure their child lives.

Kid with teddy bear

How you can give back

Giving Tuesday

Giving Tuesday is December 3rd. Consider giving a donation to St. Jude’s Research Hospital this holiday season.

teddy bears under christmas tree

Use the hashtag #BearsThatCare

From now until December 31st, Gordman’s will donate $1 to St. Jude’s for every time you use the hashtag #BearsThatCare on Instagram. How easy is that? If you’re going to use hashtags, add this into your post!

toddler looking at camera with teddy bear

Shop at Gordman’s and buy a Bear

Shopping at Gordman’s for gifts is at a deep discount is a given; but while you’re there, consider picking up the St. Jude’s bear.

Teddy Bear and little boy

Teach your children the power of giving back

As parents, we are delivering lessons to our children daily. Make one of those lessons the tradition of giving back this holiday season. Help in a soup kitchen, deliver toys to the hospital, or donate to a food drive. However you choose to make a difference, get your children involved in the process.

Tell me — how are you going to give back this holiday season?

Gift Giving that Gives Back with Gordman's
boy with teddy bear

Filed Under: charity, children, Christmas, cleveland, Columbus, giving back, gratitude, holiday gift guide, holidays, money saving tips, Ohio, parenthood, shop my favorites Tagged With: charity & fundraisers, children, Christmas, Christmas shopping, cleveland, columbus, explore Ohio, gratitude, holiday gift guide, holidays, money saving tips, ohio, parenthood, shop local, shop my favorites

How to To Honor Veterans With Your Child This Veteran’s Day

November 4, 2019 by Rachel 42 Comments

Ways to Teach Your Kids How and Why They Should Honor Veterans

Veterans have served us all. This is our chance to honor them. Photo courtesy of macleans.ca.

There are 18.2 million living American veterans. That is almost eight percent of our population. These men and women have sacrificed so much for us to be able to have the freedoms that we do. After all they have done for us, we dedicate one day a year to them. It is our duty to honor vets and their sacrifices, and to teach children to do the same. It can feel overwhelming, especially for kids to think about that kind of stuff. But it does not have to be that complicated. Often times, it’s the simplest gestures of kindness and gratitude, which help a veteran feel appreciated. Here are just a few ways to help your kids this Veteran’s Day.

Teaching kids about Veteran’s Day honors veterans. It lets them know their sacrifices will never be forgotten. Photo courtesy of liherald.com.

Teach Kids The History of Veteran’s Day

Often children look over Veteran’s Day as a day they get off of school. They really do not register what it means. It is important for kids to know why we celebrate when we do and who we are celebrating. You don’t need to take your child through all of American war history for them to be able to understand the holiday. You can teach your child in simple ways. 

Start by telling them that we celebrate the holiday on November 11th every year. Then, explain to them why. WWI involved most of the countries in the world fighting on one side or another. They fought really hard and a lot of people died fighting and the war destroyed a lot of things. Then finally, on November 11th all of the countries signed a peace treaty. So they called this day Armistice Day. This war was thought to be the war that ended all wars and that was something to celebrate. Unfortunately, that was not the case and another war happened. So the name was changed to Veteran’s Day, to honor those who fought in the war.

Then, you can explain to your child what a veteran is. Many children confuse this often. Explain to them that a veteran is anyone who has honorably served in the military. You can use this chance to teach them about the five branches of the military. Kids love to be quizzed on this. Explain the difference between an active-duty soldier and a veteran. Remind them that on 

Veteran’s Day, we celebrate those veterans who are still living. There is a separate day, Memorial Day, where we honor those who have died. It is important that you teach your children that a veteran or soldier does not mean a person with a gun shooting bad guys. There is a wide variety of military jobs and each of them is equally important.

Most children don’t know that a ton of people in their daily lives are actually veterans. Photo courtesy of military.com.

Show Children the Veteran’s Around Them

Part of teaching children about the holiday is telling them about the Veterans around them. Tell them of any family member or close friend that is a veteran. Children get excited and want to hear stories from them. If there are no veterans close to your family, tell them of one of their friend’s parents or siblings that is a veteran or active-duty service member. It can help kids realize that veterans are all around them. Teach them to wave and smile when they see someone in uniform. Teach them the importance of thanking them for their service.

Another very important topic to teach children is about the hardships that veterans go through. It can be hard to explain this aspect of things to a child, but it is very necessary. You may want to hold off on certain topics until they are a little older. Start by telling them the hardships veterans went through when they were in service. Explain that they were in really dangerous conditions. Tell them that they had to be away from their families for really long periods of time and couldn’t talk to them much. Older veterans didn’t even get to talk on the phone.

Slowly get into how that affects them after they finally come home. Explain that it can be really hard for many soldiers to adjust back to a normal lifestyle after so many years of service. This can be lightly touched on by explaining that it can be hard for many vets to get jobs because they are not very qualified for things outside of the military, meaning that many veterans end up homeless. You can explain PTSD to children by telling them that veterans often have really bad nightmares about the things that they went through while serving in war.

 It is so important to teach children about these sacrifices that these men and women have made for our freedom. This will help your child be compassionate and appreciative of veterans. 

Having your child send a Veteran’s Day care package to any veteran will let them know they are appreciated. Photo courtesy of newarkadvocate.com.

Send A Care Package 

One way to teach children to be appreciative of veterans and their sacrifices is to teach them to serve themselves. No, this does not mean pressure your kid into enlisting when they turn eighteen. Just encourage them to be of service to those who are or who have. A great way for you and your child to do this is to send a care package to a veteran or someone who is still serving. 

There are a few different ways you can get started with this. First, you have to decide who you are going to send a care package to. Think of anyone you know who is a veteran. It could be a family member, friend, someone at your child’s school, or even someone at your church. If you cannot think of anyone, you can get a veteran’s information from your local VA medical facility. 

When thanking a veteran with a care package, it does not necessarily need to be American themed or anything or the sort. The contents are not as important as the action. Try sending a tin of Mrs.Fields Cookies with a note thanking them for their service. There are great online options for sending gourmet care packages that include personalized notes. If you do not want to send a premade package, opt to make one yourself. Pick up a few things to throw in a gift basket or even just bake a cake. Veterans just like to know that they are appreciated. 

If you decide to send a care package to someone on active duty, the procedure is a little bit different. These men and women are in conflict areas and have real needs. The most requested item is $25 Visa gift cards. This is how soldiers pay for wifi to get on the satellite for personal communications to home. Other highly requested items are personal hygiene-related like wet wipes, disposable razors, chapstick, body wash, lotion, face wash, mouth wash, deodorant, Q-tips, shampoo, conditioner, etc. Posters and calendars are needed for “dressing the place up”. You can also send USB thumb drives with downloaded TV or movies. This is really the only way soldiers can view this stuff. 

Packing these items is very important. Care goods that aren’t packed right ruins everything in the box. You must double-bag individual liquid and gel items.  Soap has to be bagged or it ruins the taste of the food items. You can send packages to an organization like Support Our Troops, where they fulfill soldier requests or you can obviously send a package to someone you know. Whenever sending a care package to a veteran or someone on active duty, you always have to send a note or card thanking them for their service. This sentence may be simple, but it packs a punch. Have your children write their own note, it will put a smile on someone’s face. If you are sending overseas, include a photo of you and your child. Soldiers like to see the faces they are fighting for and the people behind the packages.


Filed Under: #MomLife, charity, children, family, giving back, mommyhood, parenthood, tips + tricks Tagged With: #MomLife, charity & fundraisers, children, family, mommyhood, parenthood, tips + tricks

Grape Falls + Craft Brews

August 8, 2019 by Rachel 11 Comments

When I started my job at the Akron YMCA nearly 4 years ago, I was unaware of how much it would change me. I’ve always had a heart for my community, but I was never quite sure how to channel that energy into real change. To my surprise and excitement, I found a way to make a difference with the Riverfront YMCA.

In fact, my absolute favorite part of being involved with the YMCA is the outpouring of love, support, and funding for (and from) the local community through programs like our annual campaign.

Did you know that the YMCA offers income-based scholarships for any family, adult, or senior that wishes to participate in their programs? That’s right — you will not be turned away, regardless of your ability to pay the fee in question.

The biggest fundraiser that our Riverfront Family YMCA branch hosts each year to support this cause is Grape Falls + Craft Brews.

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Filed Under: Akron, brews + food, charity, cleveland, coffee, Cuyahoga Falls, date night, explore locally, Explore Ohio, NEO, restaurants + bars, shop local Tagged With: akron, brews + food, charity & fundraisers, cleveland, coffee, Cuyahoga Falls, date night ideas, explore locally, explore Ohio, NEO, restaurants + bars, shop local

Red & White on Thursday Night // Recap

February 2, 2017 by Rachel 14 Comments

Last week Chad and I legit skipped our way out the front door to attend the 20th anniversary of Red and White on Thursday Night — a food and wine event to benefit The Arthritis Foundation.

I’ve said before that this event is truly our favorite event of the whole year. It’s something we continuously look forward to, year after year. In prior years, Chad and I have entered together, but split up and gone in different directions.

This year was so different. It was clear — more than ever — that we truly needed this night to reconnect with each other, at one of our most favorite places. So we made it a point to stick together nearly the entire time!

We headed straight to the VIP Lounge when we arrived, which was more glorious than ever! Dante Boccuzzi and his team were serving up the most delicious sweet potato and shrimp skewers!


I’m honestly not even a big fan of shrimp, generally speaking. But these were beyond amazing, ya’ll. Chef Dante is just amazing.

After eating several of the shrimp and sweet potato skewers, we refilled our wine glasses with red wine and headed over to the VIP dessert table, which featured this incredible creme brûlée from West Side Bakery.


Here’s my moment of truth: It had dairy. AND I ATE IT! Honestly? It was absolutely worth the cheat. Truthfully, one of the only reasons I ‘cheated’ with dairy at this event was because it’s hard to tell if something has a bit of dairy in it or not. That being said, I totally passed up cheese and pizza and other just plain ol’ cheesy things. (Le sigh…)

The rest of the event was spent meandering around, trying new-to-us wines and sampling foods from some of our favorite local restaurants!

Some of my personal faves from the night were the tacos and guacamole from BOMBA Tacos & Rum, the bacon-wrapped-dates from The Twisted Olive, and the goat-cheese and berry donut from Hudson’s Restaurant!

And my all-time favorite wines from the night came courtesy of Filia Cellars in Wadsworth, Ohio! This local winery stood out amongst it’s competition!

All in all, it was another perfect event. We ate, we drank, and we reconnected in a way that we truly needed to do. Thank you, again, to the Arthritis Foundation for inviting us to attend this event!

Filed Under: #MomLife, Akron, bloggers, charity, cleveland, date night, desserts, drinks, events, explore locally, food, friends, fun, fundraiser, life, live happy, marriage, mommyhood, NEO, Ohio, pictures, review, sponsor, wine Tagged With: #MomLife, akron, bloggers, celebration, cleveland, events, explore locally, food, foodie, friends, fundraiser, life, Live Happy, marriage, NEO, ohio, pictures, review, wine

life update

March 24, 2016 by Rachel Leave a Comment

Since Remy Bea was born (you know… TWO months ago), life has been a roller coaster, which I’ve talked about. Extensively. Like, extensively. And this here blog has suffered the wrath of long days and nights… By the time I have a few moments to myself to sit down at my computer, I just stare at a blank screen —  sometimes for an hour or more — just trying to put words into sentences. But I promise — we have actually had a life over these last 8 weeks — we have actually had fun!

 

Lavish Salon + Cleats  //  Fundraisers For My Cousin

My cousin’s 9-year old daughter has been hospitalized for over 7 months now, awaiting surgery to have her pancreas completely removed. Friends of hers arranged two benefit fundraisers for the family and their expenses.

The first fundraiser was at Lavish Color Salon on Valentine’s Day. 100% of the proceeds + tips went directly to my cousin and her family. Haircuts, makeup, nail polish changes, basket raffles, and pictures with Elsa + Olaf were aplenty!

itsahero-elsa1
Ari l-o-v-e-d Elsa! At first he was a bit standoffish; but after he warmed up to her, he literally chased her around the salon.

itsahero-elsa2
The second fundraiser was at Cleats Restaurant in Chardon. They shut down the restaurant because the turnout was so huge! It was packed! It was wonderful to see such a great turnout for such a wonderful cause! And it happened to be such an amazingly beautiful day.

NOTE: Just before I went to post this I noticed that Gia was featured in a video from The Today Show!

 

Therapy dogs bring joy, happiness back to kids at children’s h…“Gia had been so sick every single minute of the day. Months and months went by with us not seeing a smile on her face or joy in her eyes, and the first experience of seeing our little Gia back was when she and Drummer got together.”

Posted by Today Show on Wednesday, March 23, 2016

{if you feel so inclined to donate, or just to read the story of Gia, please go here.}

The Akron Art Museum  //  Tots Create

It’s no secret that I freaking love the Akron Art Museum. It’s a wonderful asset to our community (no, I’m not [yet] a member and have literally zero skin in this game). Their Free Thursdays are the bomb dot com. But they also host amazeballs events, including Creative play dates for tots!

itsahero-art1
This is me: “You mean my kid can make a mess at YOUR place and I don’t have to freak?? DEAL.”

tots create1
In the last month we’ve gone to two Tots Create events with Ari’s friend Veronique (and her mom, Betül). He has had so much fun — and released so much creative energy!

The Library  //  Story Time + Cooking Demos

Sigh – the library! Such a hidden gem! Our childrens section of our library here in Cuyahoga Falls has just gone through a major renovation. It is amazing! Ari loves the ‘puters [aka computers], which are kid-friendly in their bright colors and fun mouse! I’m impressed at how easily Ari has caught on to using a computer!

library
In addition to the computers, he has absolutely loved story time. Story time, at this age, consists of a ‘warm up’ song to get them singing and moving, before settling in for a series of short stories. It’s wonderful and engaging!

itsahero-library
Another local library does other events like cooking demonstrations! Chad has taken Ari to a couple of these demos and events! I’m not certain if Ari has taken much away from it (I’ve not gone with them — Mama needs a break once in awhile!), but it’s awesome that these are offered, nonetheless!

The Parks  //  SOAR + More

I’m not certain if I’ve mentioned this before [though I’m certain I have at one point in my blogs life…], but we have a park in our backyard. Literally. Behind our property line is a park, complete with a toddler wading pool + playground! Unfortunately the playground is a bit out of Ari’s league at this point. It’s a ‘bigger kids’ type of playground.

soar
But about 10 minutes from where we live is SOAR — an amazing wheelchair accessible playground, which happens to also be equally accessible to kids of all ages! Ari loves it — and I love it! Win-win!

soar2
We’re so grateful to have had a few really nice days to get outta the house and enjoy some sunshine!

 

Arts + Crafts  //  Creativity at Home

Not only have we had several playdates with friends + their kids over the last 6 weeks, but we’ve also managed to get in our share of crafts at home! Much in part to some help from Mimi, Ari has gotten all kindsa crafty!

crafts
I, on the other hand, prefer (at this point, at least) to use the Target easy-‘assembly’ craft-type things. Easier. Less-messy. More mom-of-a-newborn friendly. 😛

SO MUCH MORE  //  

We’ve been hitting up places like Cafe O’Play, The Lego Store, and local coffee shops with friends to pass the time. As hard as the days are, it oftentimes helps to have a ‘change of scenery’ — for all of us!

Mama’s Night Out  //  Paint Nite + CIFF Preview Party

I’ve had one semi-successful “night out” without Remy Bea. I went to a Paint Nite event with a dear friend. It’s, like, my 10th paint + wine night in the last 3 years. The one I recently went to was…. disappointing, to say the least. But I did get out for a night and get creative!

 

 

My first painting for Miss Remy Bea. ?? #latergram #paintnite #akron #RemyBea

A photo posted by Rachel (@itsahero) on Mar 23, 2016 at 6:51am PDT

 

I also had the chance to attend the Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF) preview party at the Akron Civic Theatre!

 

I will never get tired of this view. @akroncivic #ciff40 #akroncivic #wksu #ciff

A photo posted by Rachel (@itsahero) on Mar 16, 2016 at 3:24pm PDT

I actually brought Remy Bea with me to this event. Not only did I see previews for a ton of movies I want to see, but Remy Bea was a huge hit with the crowd!

 

So yeah… life has been every emotion under the sun: Fun. Exhausting. Creative. Hilarious. So exciting. Miserable. And mostly just oh so full of life! ♥ I may be exhausted, friends; but my heart is happy.

Filed Under: #MomLife, adventure, Akron, Ari Davis, baby girl, busy mom, charity, children, cleveland, crafty, creative, domesticity, events, explore locally, family, fun, fundraiser, life, life with a toddler, live happy, maternity leave, mommyhood, Moosh, Oh baby!, Ohio, parenthood, pictures, postpartum, Remy Bea, review, social media, toddler boys, updates, video Tagged With: #MomLife, akron, ari davis, babies, baby girl, being a mom, busy mom, celebration, charity & fundraisers, children, cleveland, crafty, creative, events, explore locally, family, food, friends, life, life with a toddler, Live Happy, local, mommyhood, Moosh, motherhood, ohio, parenthood, pictures, postpartum, Remy Bea, video

Key to the Cure // Wrap Up

November 6, 2015 by Rachel Leave a Comment

Before I get into this wrap up I wanted to very quickly give a shout out to one of my favorite local charities, Shoes and Clothes for Kids (SC4k). The mission of SC4K is to provide disadvantaged kids in Greater Cleveland with brand new shoes and clothing. What might surprise you is that two of their most requested items are socks and underwear. It’s so easy to take simple things like these for granted, but many kids in our community are wearing hand-me-downs, giveaways, throwaways – and some just go without.

To get people to think about this topic, they created a catchy video. Take a quick minute and check it out:

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdgGqUKW9nA#t]

Right now they are running a crowdfunding campaign to help increase sock and underwear donations! Even better? They’ve received a challenge grant of up to $15k! That means your donation will be MATCHED!

If you are able, please consider donating to the campaign here.

Alright, so, a few weeks ago I had the privilege of attending another charity event, the Key To The Cure event at Saks Fifth Avenue at Beachwood Place! My girlfriend, Carli, and I decided to say buh-bye to our boys for the evening and head out for a night of fun.

keytothecure
Saks Fifth Avenue of Beachwood Place teams up with the Cleveland Clinic each year to host a shopping extravaganza! It’s a chance to give shoppers the opportunity to support women’s reproductive and breast research by offering a percentage of their sales go to the Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Center from October 15th to October 18th.

Guests were encouraged to purchase presale tickets to the event kickoff, which was the event we attended on October 15th, for $75 per person. Included in the event ticket was a $50 tax deductible write-off, a $25 Saks gift card, live entertainment, and food and drinks supplied by the amazing local talents from the Taste of Cleveland restaurants!

Carli and I arrived and were a tad bit overwhelmed at first. There was a LOT of food. Like, a lot. And, even though I knew I would be sick later, I wanted to eat all of it. We did a quick circle through Saks to check out all of the food offerings (duh. I’m pregnant), before diving in.

IMG_0170
The food was amazing. Many of the offerings were from restaurants I have already been to; others I was experiencing for the first time (though we had meant to try them… that whole toddler thing keeps us home a lot as of late). Society Lounge provided cocktails for the evening (and I may have sipped on the most delicious Moscow Mule I’ve ever had), and wine was also provided for guests. I honestly can’t even remember who had the best food (but it was probably Lago).

Oh and I made sure to eat as many delicious donuts as my belly would hold, thanks to Peace, Love and Little Donuts. 🙂

IMG_0186
At the end of the night, we waddled our way upstairs to the childrens department (because let’s be real — when a mom is given $25 bucks to spend, she chooses to spend it on her kids, not herself). I bought baby girl an adorable sleeper (that I would have normally never spent $25 on… let’s be real). So thank you, Key to the Cure, for the “free” $25!

Overall, it was an awesome night. I would love to experience the evening again, but this time not pregnant (Umm, HELLO Moscow Mules and see ya next year!)! If you missed it this year, keep an eye out for it October 2016! And see ya there!

Filed Under: baby girl, busy mom, charity, cleveland, clothes, events, explore locally, fashion, food, friends, fun, girls nite, life, mommyhood, NEO, nightlife, Ohio, pampering, pictures, review, social media, yum Tagged With: baby girl, being a mom, charity & fundraisers, cleveland, events, explore locally, food, foodie, friends, hair and fashion, life, Live Happy, mommyhood, NEO, ohio, pampering, pictures, review, social media

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