Uncategorized | The Mango Memoirs

Valentine Winner & MaiLele Sale

Posted on February 17, 2015 by Angela @ The Mango Memoirs • 0 Comments

A great big thank you to everyone who entered our Valentine giveaway last week! It’s so much fun for us to put something like that together as a celebration of each of you who follow our journey and visit our blog.

The winner is…Brittany! I asked each participant what their favorite cake flavor is. I love Brittany’s response, “Red velvet! Or lemon pound. Yes. The latter. Or the former if I want something chocolatey without eating chocolate lol.” I completely understand! Congrats, Brittany! I’ll send you an email and get your package sent off very soon.

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Included in the Valentine package was a pair of earrings from my sister’s new Etsy shop, MaiLele. In celebration of my sweet little niece Maira’s 4th birthday this week (the Mai in MaiLele), my sister is having a special sale today through February 24. When you buy one of her wall hanging jewelry displays, you get two pairs of earrings of your choice for FREE! Here’s how to do it.

1. Visit MaiLele’s Etsy shop.
2. Find shop section Wall-Hanging Jewelry Displays.
3. Select and pay for Wall-Hanging of your choice.
4. In the spot designated for “notes to seller,” let Becky know your 1st, 2nd, 3rd choices for earrings! (Each set of earrings has a number in its title- just use the number!)
5. The earrings are first-come, so if your choices are no longer available she’ll let you know and you can re-choose.
6. Wait every day excitedly by your mailbox!
7. ENJOY!

Disclaimer: All opinions above are my own. I was not compensated in any way for these thoughts. Well, besides the fact that the artist is my sister. And I kinda like her.

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{giveaway} Oh My Heart! Valentine’s Package

Posted on February 12, 2015 by Angela @ The Mango Memoirs • 33 Comments

Valentine’s Day is just a couple days away, and I thought it would be fun to celebrate with a giveaway! I know so many of us think of Valentine’s Day as just a day for mushy love with a hot date, but I have always been drawn more toward celebrating all the sweet relationships in my life. I am so very thankful for each one of you who take time to read this blog, share it with friends, pray for us, and occasionally leave amazingly encouraging comments!

Oh My Heart

This giveaway is a way for me to share some of my favorite things with you! One reader will receive a package with the following items: a $15 Starbucks gift card, gorgeous earrings from MaiLeLe, Trader Joe’s dark chocolate bar, and natural lip balm made by me, all in an adorable pouch from my friend Stephanie at Sand & Starfish. A sweet Valentine’s collection!

Sand & Starfish

I am pretty thrilled to include a pair of earrings from my sister’s brand new Etsy shop, MaiLele. I can’t tell you how proud I am of her for making room in her life for a creative outlet like this. She has always been bursting with creativity. From the time she was itty bitty, she has been drawing and painting. She focused a huge part of her high school years on making art. In college, she majored in graphic design and had a very moving senior art exhibit in the campus’s museum. But you know how things get. Life happens and it’s not easy to take time to continue creating. But last summer, Becky married an awesome guy who is an incredible dad to her two sweet girls, and she is finally able to take a little time to herself for making art. The name MaiLele comes from a combination of her girls’ names. Adorable, sin’t it?! The earrings below will be given to the winner of this Valentine’s package, but you can find many more beautiful pieces in her shop.

MaiLele

To enter to win the Oh My Heart! Valentine Package, simply leave a comment below, telling me what your favorite cake flavor is! Why cake? Well, is there anything better than cake to celebrate? Um, probably not! Giveaway ends Monday, February 16 at midnight. Winner will be posted the next day!

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Breakfast at the North Pole

Posted on December 15, 2014 by Angela @ The Mango Memoirs • 0 Comments

North Pole Breakfast

What a time we had at our North Pole breakfast! Saturday morning we welcomed a long line of jammied children to celebrate the season with us at our very own North Pole. It even looked like the Santa’s land out the window as heavy fog sat low over the water and large pieces of ice floated against the rocky shore.

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We served plates of ‘Santa hat’ mini pancakes, ‘snow ball’ donut holes, lefse from Mrs Claus (a must for this Scandinavian family), and egg casseroles made from ‘North Pole chickens, of course.’

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We served hot chocolate with giant marshmallows…

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and an assortment of coffees and teas for the grown ups.

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We also had ‘reindeer food’ with Cheerios, mini marshmallows, red & green M&M’s, golden raisins, and pretzel sticks.

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Oh, and we had little foam reindeer noses so kids could be their very own Rudolph!

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Along with their reindeer noses, the kids shook a jingle bell on a string, which of course sounded just like Santa’s sleigh!

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The party began with all the little ones gathered around the coffee table to color North Pole pictures and decorate foam ornaments.

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In all, I think we had about 20 kids under the age of 5 1/2 and a dozen parents. It was a very festive morning!

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Sammy baby absolutely loves parties!

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After coloring and breakfast, we gathered in the living room for a story. We talked about Santa and the fun at Christmas, and then we talked about why we celebrate Christmas at all. The kids were very excited to shout out, “It’s Jesus’ birthday!” And with that, we read The Newborn King, a beautiful book I found a couple years ago that tells the Christmas story right out of the book of Luke. After the story, we passed out the jingle bells and reindeer noses and got busy making reindeer food!

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The older kids loved the photo booth.

So did the grown ups!

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It was such a fun morning. Even though Pete had just finished an overnight shift in the ER, he was bright-eyed for the party. We just might have to make this an annual event! (Though after next year, we’ll need to continue it in Kenya!)

Merry Christmas

I’m excited to announce that we have a winner from our giveaway of Ann Voskamp’s book Unwrapping the Greatest Gift! Hilliary H will be receiving a copy of the gorgeous book, a perfect way to prepare for Christmas through the Advent season. Thank you to everyone who participated. Our one year ‘blogiversary’ is just a few weeks away, so make sure you are around for a big giveaway at the first of the year! Congratulations, Hillary!

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Party resources:
in case you’re interested in having your own Christmas/North Pole party!

Target:
little red & gold Christmas ornaments
red glittery candles
paper coffee cups with lids
foam ornaments & stickers

Hobby Lobby:
jingle bells
red & white bakers twine
Santa mug

Sam’s Club:
mini pancakes

Amazon:
foam clown noses
The Newborn King (though I can now only find the board book)

Etsy:
Happy Christmas printable party package
Home Is Wherever I’m With You

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GIVEAWAY: Unwrapping the Greatest Gift by Ann Voskamp (CLOSED)

Posted on December 11, 2014 by Angela @ The Mango Memoirs • 22 Comments

Advent Book 2

We’re in the midst of Advent season, and in our house, that equals a couple things. First, Ella has a little chocolate advent calendar that she opens every morning. It’s supposed to serve as a countdown to Christmas, with a wee piece of chocolate behind every paper flap, but I made the mistake of showing it to her before Advent actually began, meaning we are a few days ahead. I think today she opened number 15. We may have a problem when we get to the last piece of chocolate and it’s not yet Christmas.

Second, I like to take time with the kids to do some kind of Advent reading every night. That’s the good Lutheran girl in me, I suppose. Last year we found simple readings on Pinterest. Then, last month, I saw someone post a photo of Ann Voskamp’s book Unwrapping the Greatest Gift on Instagram and decided to order it for our family. We’ve been loving it! It’s a beautifully illustrated, hardcover book with scripture, a story, and family questions and activity ideas for each day of Advent.

Advent Book 4

We would love to share this book with you! You can enter to win your own copy of Unwrapping the Greatest Gift: A Family Celebration of Christmas by Ann Voskamp by completing the steps in the form below. Start by leaving a comment about what your favorite family activity is during the Christmas season and then clicking in the giveaway box that you left a comment. (You might find the comment section up near the title of this post, depending on how you opened this page.) The giveaway will be open until Sunday night at midnight and I’ll announce the winner on Monday. That way I can mail the book out in time to read a few of the last sections before Christmas. This book will be a beautiful addition to your family Christmas traditions!

Disclaimer: I was not compensated in any way to talk about or giveaway this book. The opinions in this post are entirely my own.

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Picnicking On the Shore

Posted on November 1, 2014 by Angela @ The Mango Memoirs • 1 Comment

Last night I made the long, long drive with the kids and my mama to Dickinson, North Dakota. My sister moved here after she got married this summer. We've lived most of our lives in the same town, so having her so far away has been a huge change for us. We've really felt it with our kids missing each other so dearly. We're here until Monday morning when we'll make the nine-hour trek home. We're soaking in every moment!

Last week we had a little evening picnic in the grass between our deck and the lake. We were out as the sun set and we lost all light. It was a good opportunity to practice taking more photos!