Archive for Family Stuff

PowerMyLearning

This is a sponsored post.

We love getting educational products, digital or otherwise, to review. It’s fun for the children and changes up our routine a bit trying something new.

PowerMyLearning.org Review

PowerMyLearning is a free, educational website for teachers, parents and children. This site covers all the core subjects of education: Math, Language Arts, Music & Art, Social Studies, Science, Technology, World Languages and My Life (or what we old-timers would consider “Health”). There is a lot of interactive activities and my children enjoy visiting this website. The site does require creating a free account but it’s painless. Just like any other site registration.

My children really loved Biology – they love anything to do with animals – imagine that considering we live on a farm! They also loved the Who Am I section in Language Arts.

Here’s what my children had to say about the site:

Power My Learning

“O” (13) – Picked up on misinformation. She said, “They got stuff like the gods and goddesses wrong in the solar system. They said the goddess of Agriculture was Aphrodite when everyone knows that is Demeter. Aphrodite is the goddess of love and beauty. They said the same thing about Mars, he is the God of War.” Can you tell she’s studied Greek mythology? Thanks to Percy Jackson.

“JAG”(9) – “It’s fun. I didn’t like the millions of years. I liked the stuff about rocks and stuff like that. I like the science things. Actually, I like a lot of it.”

“Blondie” (7) – “It was cool. I didn’t like the fact that there was no “playground” (another site we have used has a “playground” for recess etc., which was actually PBS kids TV programming and computer games) I like their games. My favorite game was the car racing game.”

“Nook” (5) – First he said he didn’t really like it then he changed his mind and said he likes it. Rather fickle little boy, eh?

Overall, I would have to say the children thought it was fun and I thought it was informative and a good site to use as a supplement to their homeschooling material.

PowerMyLearning is revamping their site with a launch date of September 3! We are excited as we thought the site was not very user friendly for mom or children. So this was great news to hear!


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Be Pawsitive Organic Pet Treats

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.

Our 18 month old puppy, Padfoot, loves to eat. We try to eat as much organic as possible ourselves and try not to leave our pets behind in that process. All of our animals are fed organic feed, with the exception of our horse but we are not going to eat him or products produced by him. We tried him on an organic grain briefly but because of how worn down his teeth are he couldn’t chew it properly.

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Be Pawsitive Organic Pet Treats

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When we were invited to do a review of Be Pawsitive Organic Pet Treats we were very interested trying these for our pooch.

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Be Pawsitive Organic Pet Treats are loaded with rich fruits and berries. When you buy a box of Be Pawsitive treats you provide a box of treats for a shelter dog too.

Customers can choose from one of three monthly subscription options for as low as $18 per month. Subscription plans are as follows: monthly plan at $24/month, $66 for three months ($22/month) or $108 for six months ($18/month). Customers can also give the treat box as a gift. For more information or to order Be Pawsitive’s monthly treat box, please visit www.bepawsitive.com. The “Buy One, Give One” campaign is part of Be Pawsitive’s company philosophy, and is available at all times.

Be Pawsitive Organic Pet Treats Review

Padfoot responded really well to the treats we received from Be Pawsitive. Our daughter used them only for training. He has been sitting when anyone comes over to him, he is coming better and listening more.

He loved the rawhide card and had so much fun with it! We think he thought it was a toy at first because he acted really fiesty and wanted to play, as you can see from his playful stance in the photo below.

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We also received “power berry” dog biscuits. Not only did Padfoot love them but our cats also liked them! The ingredients are all natural and organic and almost all the ingredients except the olive oil and bananas come from the USA – yay!

Be Pawsitive organic pet treats gets two thumbs up from us!


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Shopping for a New Tea Kettle

This is a featured post.

We drink a lot of tea in our house. Since we mostly drink decaffeinated tea, the children also drink it. I’ve never owned an electric tea kettle, we’ve always had one that you heat on top of the stove. My parents always had one electric kettle and one for the stove, if I remember correctly.

Here’s a photo of our two year old tea kettle. I really like it, but it’s missing the knob on the top cover and wait until you see inside! The outside will actually clean up for the most part with a good scrubbing.

FFR Tea Kettle-edit

The inside of the tea kettle seems to have a lot of salt or sediment build up making the kettle that much heavier. It’s all around the sides and on the bottom. This photo does not really show the full extent of the build up but gives you a good idea:

FFR Inside Tea Kettle-edit

I like a nice looking tea kettle and I really liked this green one, but I have no idea what kind I would buy next so I am appealing to all of you for recommendations! What brand, style, electric or on the stove tea kettles do you recommend? Leave your recommendations in the comment section!


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Ultimate Back to School Bash

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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:

**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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TWR360 Free Christian Programming

TWR360 Faith For Your World 2

Even though TWR is the world’s largest Christian radio broadcaster with missionaries around the world and has been around for nearly years, I think this is the first time I have heard about it. They have created a brand new beta consumer platform TWR360 and are harnessing the power of technology in the digital age to reach new listeners for Christ. As I stated, the site is currently in beta and the official consumer launch is January 1; new programming is being added between now and the end of the year. What a great free Christian programming resource.

TWR360 Free Christian Programming

Like any other online account creation, creating a TWR360 account is very easy.

Here are my favorite programming:
Unshackled!
Adventures in Odessey (listed under the program schedule)
Children’s Bible Hour (listed under the program schedule)
Children’s Story Hour (listed under the program schedule)
Family Life Today

I found the site a little hard to navigate and the search engine for the site didn’t seem to bring up programs I searched for that were on TWR360’s programming schedule. So I think that is something they should improve upon during this beta stage before their official launch in January 2014. Otherwise I thought it was a resource Christians and others should know about as they have a decent variety in their programming schedule.

You can find TWR360 on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.


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Back to School with Old Navy #myONstyle @OldNavy




Back to school season is here already, can you believe it? I still have shop to for school supplies but I did take one of our children, our third oldest daughter shopping at Old Navy as a treat and she needed more immediate things than the rest. Old Navy has their back to school promotion going on right now in all U.S. stores – $10 and under – from 8/3 thru 8/14. Old Navy is also inviting parents to come into stores to take a picture of their kids rocking their favorite Old Navy back to school looks in front of the store’s Step and Repeat!

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Back to School with Old Navy

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Old Navy Gift Card – Accepted via my iPhone since our printer is not working!

I have to admit we headed for the clearance section first. Not only did the bright colors attract my daughter but we wanted to make the most of our limited budget. It would have been easy to spend it all on one or two items, but instead we came out with eight things! Not too shabby, eh?

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My daughter is still growing, as a matter of fact she’s taller than me by a couple inches, not saying much since I am only 5’3. I say that because we now have to shop in the ladies or women’s section just so we can get the height part to fit her. We did sneak a peek at the girls section to get a feel for what was available for my youngest daughter. The girls section was tucked all the way back in the left hand corner of the store, but very easy to find.

FFR Old Navy Bright Shorts
She loved these shorts, but wished they were longer or pants!

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O with her clothes selection – 2 dresses, 5 pairs of socks, including horse socks and a pair of black leggings.

FFR Old Navy Horse Socks

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Don’t forget Old Navy’s Back to School promotion – $10 and under – and consider getting your kids to show of their back to school fashion style in front of the store’s Step and Repeat! After you upload your photo, enter to the Multiply Your Sweet Style here: www.nick.com/OldNavy! It includes an Old Navy $1000 shopping spree, $500 cash to play in L.A and a shopping experience with Jennette McCurdy and Ariana Grande from Nickelodeon’s Sam and Cat!


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Bookboard Review and Free Trial!

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.

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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.

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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.

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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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Peanut Butter Popcorn Recipe – Wordless Wednesday

FFR Peanut Butter Popcorn Recipe

Peanut Butter Popcorn Recipe

Peanut butter popcorn has become a favorite treat for our family. It is so very yummy! And pretty easy to make.

3 quarts of popped popcorn
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of honey
1 cup of peanut butter

Heat honey, sugar and peanut butter until bubbly. Remove and add popcorn. Spread on wax paper. Let cool. Enjoy!


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Back to School with KIWI Shop

Back to school time! We received a fabulous back to school kit from our the KIWI shop that included eight back to school products. KIWI is a natural, organic online shop offering eco-friendly, organic products for parents, kids and the home.

Back to School with KIWI Shop

Below are the products we used and reviewed:

Wean Green 4 oz. Wean Cubes, 4-Pack, Garden – I loved these little glass cubes! Not only are they cute and colorful but great for little snacks. I wouldn’t necessarily send my children to school with them because of the glass material but from a storage stand point they are great containers to have in the cupboard. Though a little pricey.


LiceLogic Repel Conditioning Hair Spray
– I don’t think all the girls have used this product yet but one of them said they did try it and liked it. We’ve never had an issue with lice but now that we have this hopefully we will continue to enjoy a lice free life!

Facial Gel Cleanser
– I know one of my girls has tried this product and she says she liked it and how it made her skin feel softer. She was experiencing a bit of a pimple outbreak on her nose and forehead and she stated this Gel Cleanser was helping get rid of it.

Back to School with Kiwi

Eco Lunchbox – made of stainless steel and very sturdy. Love this as well as the crocodile one for younger children.

Safari Bento Box, Green Crocodile – is super cute and our son loved it for his new Vegetable Crayons!

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Vegetable Crayons – My almost 3 year old loved “his” organic vegetable crayons! They were easy for him to handle and fun to use. The only thing negative I noticed is the colors are not as dark as the crayon, even the dark blue and green or red for that matter.

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Kids AlternaVites STRAWBERRY 30 CT
– all of our children liked the AlternaVites, except for our 14 year old. They reminded her of the antibiotic she use to have to take before she went to the dentist (she use to have a heart condition). All the children who liked the AlternaVites, asked to have their vitamins. That’s always a good sign in our house….when they don’t run away when it’s time to take any sort of supplement! ;)

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Artterro Handmade Paper Bookmaking Kit – Our children enjoyed working on the bookmaking kit together. The only thing the younger children needed my help with was the book binding. This kit makes a great rainy day craft project or a 90 degree plus day.

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We really love the product mix offered for back to school! It was fun for all of us to go through the products and test them out.

If you would like to win some cool back to school products from KIWI shop, please visit their giveaway to enter: http://www.kiwishoponline.com/back-to-school-giveaway


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CaringBridge

“I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for CaringBridge. I received a promotional item as a thank you for participating.”

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We have friends in our old church who had a child born with a facial birth defect. She has had numerous doctors appointments, wonderful care and has experienced great progress in her growth and development. However, when she was first born many things were pretty much up in the air because lots of discussion and follow up had to be done in order for the parents and doctors to the right path of treatment for this child. In order to keep all of us who were surrounding them with love, care and prayer, the family created a webpage dedicated to update specific for this child. They used a site like CaringBridge to send out updates and photos.

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Most of us have experienced a life-changing illness or had a family member or friend who has. CaringBridge is a nonprofit organization which has served families for more than 15 years, offering hope and inspiration to struggling families. Sona Mehring, the founder of CaringBridge shares a collection of these important hope-inspiring stories in her new book, Hope Conquers All. The stories range from young children with cancer, to adults awaiting transplants, these first-person accounts reveal the importance CaringBridge had in their personal journeys. If you have someone special who needs your love and support through a troubling health issue, or you are even faintly interested to learn how brave these individuals were through such hard times, consider learning more or purchasing Sona Mehring’s book here: http://caringb.org/hope. All author proceeds will go to CaringBridge.


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