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Week #7 Saturday Top Five Laughs – Join the Blog Hop!

Posted by html404 on December 7, 2013
in Animals, Blog Stuff, Family Stuff, Fun Stuff, Humor, Kids Stuff, Saturday Top Five Laughs, Uncategorized

I think I did better writing down funny things as they happened this week so it is officially time to laugh with the Goulds again! We have joined The Mommyhood Chronicles for Week #7 – for us – in the Saturday Top Five Laughs of the week.

5. We were talking about the Prince and Duchess of Wales and our Amelia Bedilia said, “They live in whales?” I believe she knew what we meant but was trying to be funny because she repeated it to her brother next to her and then they high-fived.

4. Love the honest laughs of my children. Nothing makes us smile more than to hear their genuine laugh.

3. The kittens were their playful selves again. Our three year old son was told to clean the crayon off the patio door and while he was wiping, Freckles was trying to grab Jr.’s cloth!

2. We had one of our sons get sick yesterday, which made our older son paranoid about getting sick. My son applied DiGize essential oil to help ward off a tummy ache. My husband pulled a fast one on him by asking him which way he applied the DiGize clockwise or counter clockwise. My son replied, “Counter clockwise.” My husband proceeded to tell him if he circled counter clockwise everything would come up, but if he had of applied it clockwise everything would stay down. My son goes, “Arghhhh!” And my husband comes in our bedroom laughing that he couldn’t believe he fooled our son. I chuckled and told him to go tell him the difference before he thought he’d be sick!

1. Last night while I was working on my laptop our children were all watching the movie “The Croods” next to me. I loved hearing them all burst out laughing. I was listening to their laughter more than the movie so now I have to watch it for myself! Gotta love the sound of children laughing! This is kind of a repetition of #4, oh well! I was doubly blessed this week to think of it twice!

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Pur Gum Review

Posted by Brande on December 6, 2013
in All Natural Products, Blog Stuff, Food and Treats, Products for Dad, Products for Mom, Reviews, Shopping, Uncategorized

Kick Aspartame! Pur Gum comes in 4 flavors Wintergreen, Pomegranate, Spearmint, & Peppermint. They all taste great and are long lasting. It’s not one of the gums that gets hard and is almost impossible to chew after 5 minutes. And yes, you can blow bubbles.

When they say Pur – that’s what they mean. This gum is vegan, gluten-free, non-gmo, nut-free, celiac, & diabetic friendly! And is safe for pregnant moms! It’s the gum for everyone and is flavored with Xylitol.

This is going to be a staple in the car for me. That’s when I’m usually chewing gum.

Pur Gum is available in over 10,000 locations and 20 countries! If you can’t find it in your area, Pur Gum is also available on Amazon.com!

Like Pur Gum on Facebook or find them on twitter @purgum.

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Get What You Really Want This Holiday Season #Slimfessions

Posted by html404 on November 20, 2013
in Blog Stuff, Family Stuff, Giveaways, Holidays, Uncategorized, Weight Loss

It is that time of year again to think about holiday photos for Thanksgiving or Christmas or Hanukkah and how to get what you really want this holiday season, right?

We usually have a photo session of snapping lots and lots and lots of photos of our children or our family just to get just the “right” photo. We have fun, we’ve had tears in the past, we’ve had frustration, but in the end the time and effort is usually worth it.

I love taking photos of our children and sending them to family and friends, even though I haven’t done it in three years….since our last child was born. I usually dread taking a family photo of all ten of us. Why? Because of my weight gain. I probably won’t get what I really want this year but it’s something I am working towards for next Christmas.

Sometimes things we say are different than the things we’re actually thinking. For example: You may say you want to look great in your holiday dress but what you really want is to impress your in-laws that you haven’t seen since last Christmas. Let us know what you really want on Walmart.com, and print a $1 coupon for any Slim-Fast® product and visit the slimfession board here: see.walmart.com/slimfast?cid=sbo.562.6280.1903

Here’s my slimfession:

#Slimfession Giveaway $25 Walmart Gift Card!

Enter the Slimfast giveaway below by leaving your Slimfession and you can win a $25 Walmart gift card! Two winners. US only. Contest ends on December 6th. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Saturday Top Five Laughs- Join the Blog Hop with Mommyhood Chronicles!

Posted by html404 on October 26, 2013
in Blog Stuff, Encouragement for Moms, Family Stuff, Fun Stuff, Kids Stuff, Uncategorized

Please note: All of this up to #3 was written months ago, if not nearly two years ago, since my first and last Saturday Top Five Laughs was 2/24/12! I had good intentions of joining Saturday Top Five Laughs….

I keep meaning to participate in Mommyhood Chronicles’ Saturday Top Five Laughs but it keeps getting brushed aside for reviews and other things….not so this week!

Here goes my top five laughs of the week late February 2012/Early March 2012:

1. My baby’s laugh. He has this laugh when he’s excited. Whether he’s excited to nurse, eat or be put to bed. It’s priceless and makes my husband and I smile or laugh every time we hear him.

2. We had a few emotional break downs this week (that’s what happens when you have teen girls and preteen girls!) and my husband said, “I wish you all would stop diving off the deep end.” Our Amelia Bedilia matter of factly states, “But there’s no cliff to jump off of Daddy.” My husband says, “Yes, my little Amelia Bedilia” and I pointed at him and said, “That’s exactly what I thought!”

3. My rock star son wet his hair and brushed it dry so that it was standing up on end. He’s hilarious. I don’t have a photo of him, but I just took this one of my other son for the sake of this blog post!

Fast forward to 10/24/13…

4. My daughter cracked me up when she used a scarf to become Ninja O.

5. My youngest son has been giving us two thumbs up when he wants to say “ok”. We have no idea where he got it from because none of us do this on a regular basis. We prompted him for the sake of having a photo to share.

Happy Saturday Top Five Laughs!

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Ultimate Back to School Bash

Posted by html404 on August 10, 2013
in Blog Stuff, Contests, Education, Family Stuff, Free Stuff, Giveaways, School, Uncategorized

Still shopping for back to school supplies? Have you thought of entering giveaways to see if you could win some cool back to school products? We are participating in the Ultimate Back to School Bash! The giveaway will run from August 18th at 12:01 am and run through August 31st at 11:59 pm.

Currently, the giveaway prizes include the following list, valued at $202, but growing fast:

$100 Visa Gift Card from 3 Boys and a Dog
Back to School Survival Guide from The Confident Mom (value $10)
GoPicnic Set of 6 Meals (value $28.49)
Teach My Winners Choice (value up to $39.99)
One subscription to BYOU ‘Be Your Own You!’ Magazine (value $23.70)
Office Depot Foundation Sackpack of Supplies (non-profit)
Texas Instruments The TI-Nspire CX handheld (value $150)

**More prizes being added daily!

Bloggers, you are welcome to sign up as well as This is a free event! Each blogger will get 1 free link, either Facebook or Twitter. Please say I referred you. Sorry for the short notice but Today is the last day to sign up!

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Bookboard Review and Free Trial!

Posted by Brande on August 7, 2013
in Blog Stuff, Books, Deals, Downloads, Ebooks, Education, Family Stuff, Free Stuff, Fun Stuff, Parenting, Reviews, Saving Money, School, Shopping, Technology/Electronics, Uncategorized

Faith and Family Reviews received the following product in exchange for writing a review. While we consider it a privilege to receive free products to review, our reviews are our honest opinion and thoughts of the product.

Mechanimals, Me and My Dragon, The Lucky Day Picnic, Doors in the Air are only a few of the wonderful books available through Bookboard.com. This app has over 400 books available to unlock with up to 4 children’s accounts (up to the age of 12). Once the books are downloaded, they can be read offline. Currently, Bookboard is available for iPads with iOS 5.x or higher. Bookboard recommends using and iPad2 or later version. However, they do work on an original iPad they are just slower. Bookboard says on their website that are adding other devices and platforms in the future.

Bookboard sets goals for your children and parents can check their progress through the app as well. Once a goal is reached, your child is rewarded with more books unlocked to continue their reading.

Bookboard Review and Free Trial

Head to Bookboard’s website for a FREE TRIAL! If you and your children enjoy it you can purchase a subscription for only $8.99 if you pay per month or if you choose the 6 month subscription its $29.94 or $4.99 a month! In the aspect of things if you purchase one book will cost $4.99. Here you have unlimited reading at your fingertips!

Here are a few on the many subjects that can be found on Bookboard: Smithsonian Series, Berenstain Bears and The Boxcar Children!!

My daughter is just learning to read and just loves the iPad. For us this is a great learning tool and we really enjoyed our books. You can join today to get your FREE TRIAL too!!

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The Promise Box by Tricia Goyer

Posted by html404 on June 4, 2013
in Blog Stuff, Books, Products for Mom, Reviews, Uncategorized

I have to say I was pleasantly surprised with The Promise Box by Tricia Goyer. I guess I went into it thinking I know what to expect, after all I’d read other books by Tricia Goyer. While The Promise Box is an Amish romance, it was much more than that. It is the journey of a hurting young woman and young man, whose lives cross and finally blend as they discover strength, healing, a deeper faith and commitment in a community of supportive family and friends.

Not to sound like a broken record, but I truly love the community and faith of Amish believers (or Christians). They have something the world is missing and I believe that is why the rest of us are drawn to and fascinated by them. It is one of the reasons the Amish are so popular among us Englischers.

Here are a few points from the book that I particularly enjoyed:

Page 185, when Gideon said:

I heard it said once you cannot train a horse with shouts and expect it to obey a whisper.

I couldn’t help but think of that in relation to child training.

Page 186, when Gideon spoke:

It’s not about pride, Lydia – it’s about stewardship. We’re supposed to take care of what God puts into our possession. Going forth and subduing the earth isn’t about forcing yourself. It’s tending to.

This made me think of our little farm and all that God has blessed us with….it’s an ongoing work to tend to and care for all of it, plus our family.

Finally, page 200 and the “Be” phrases”:

Be REVERENT in spirit low
Be GENEROUS, give all you can, then give a little more;
Be THOUGHTFUL of the people who are lonely, old, or sad;
Be READY quickly to respond to special appeals;
Be UNSELFISH – all self-seeking with abandon cast aside;
Be HOPEFUL for the best of life, for hope has wondrous worth;
Be APPRECIATIVE for great riches of Christ and His love,

As Lydia indicated in the book, these are easier to memorize than to live.

Hope you can take something from these little excerpts too. I am looking forward to the third book in the Seven Brides for Seven Bachelors series. The Promise Box receives two thumbs up from me!

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Enter to Win an Amish Baking Box from Tricia Goyer and RSVP for Her 6/12 Facebook Party!

Posted by html404 on June 4, 2013
in Blog Stuff, Books, Contests, Giveaways, Reviews, Uncategorized

Enter Today – 5/22 – 6/12!

Tricia Goyer is celebrating the release of her lastest novel, The Promise Box (Zondervan), by hosting an Amish Baking Box giveaway and connecting with readers during her June 12th Book Chat Party!

One “promising” winner will receive:

Apron, hot mitts, and kitchen towels
Amish baking items (rolling pin, pie plate, etc…)
Sherry Gore’s Simply Delicious Amish Cooking
The Memory Jar and The Promise Box by Tricia Goyer

Enter today by clicking one of the icons below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on June 11th. Winner will be announced at the “The Promise Box” Facebook Author Chat Party on June 12th. Connect with Tricia for an evening of Amish fun – book chat, trivia, laughter, and more! Tricia will also share an exclusive look at the next book book in the Seven Brides for Seven Bachelors series and give away books and other fun prizes throughout the evening.

So grab your copy of The Promise Box and join Tricia Goyer on the evening of June 12th for a chance to connect and make some new friends. (If you haven’t read the book, don’t let that stop you from coming!)

Don’t miss a moment of the fun; RSVP today. Tell your friends via FACEBOOK or TWITTER and increase your chances of winning. Hope to see you on the 12th!

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The Offering by Angela Hunt

Posted by html404 on June 2, 2013
in Blog Stuff, Books, Family Stuff, Products for Mom, Reviews

Faith and Family Reviews received the following product in exchange for writing a review. While we consider it a privilege to receive products to review, our reviews are our honest opinion and thoughts of the product.

The Offering by Angela Hunt is a story of an emotional journey of two women’s desire give/have a child. Mandy and her husband decide Mandy will be a surrogate for a couple desperately wanting a child since they feel they are not ready financially to add to their own family. However, before Mandy is through her pregnancy her life is changed forever by a tragic event. In her grief stricken state, she willingly goes through with her surrogacy obligations. Two years later she discovers a horrifying mistake.

This novel had to be one of the most emotionally charged books I have ever read. I have actually looked into surrogacy, but in the end because of my history of losses and age wouldn’t qualify for most surrogacy programs. I really don’t know where I stand personally on surrogacy but feel for some it is the right choice for them. I admire surrogate mothers, as well as families seeking a surrogate.

The Offering shows the ultimate sacrifice of a mother. I have no idea what I would do if I were in a similar situation to Mandy. Probably drown in my grief.

I admire Mandy and her courage to seek the truth, as well as her ultimate “offering”.

I highly recommend this book. It is a great read, full of information and will give you much to think about, however, be ready to shed many tears!

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Enter to Win a Nook HD from Angela Hunt and RSVP for Her 6/5 Facebook Party!

Posted by html404 on June 2, 2013
in Blog Stuff, Books, Contests, Giveaways, Uncategorized

Enter Today – 5/14 – 6/4!

Angela Hunt is celebrating the release of The Offering with a Nook HD Giveaway and an Author Chat Party on Facebook {6/5}.

One winner will receive:

A Nook HD
The Offering by Angela Hunt

Enter today by clicking one of the icons below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on June 4th. Winner will be announced at the “The Offering” Facebook Author Chat Party on June 5th. Connect with Angela for an evening of book chat, trivia, laughter, and more! Angela will also share an exclusive look at her next book and give away books and other fun prizes throughout the evening.

So grab your copy of The Offering and join Angela on the evening of June 5th for a chance to connect and make some new friends. (If you haven’t read the book, don’t let that stop you from coming!)