What’s not to love about the latest set of collectors bills from Swagbucks just in time for Valentines Day? The collectors bills are worth a variety of amounts of reward points and if you collect them all, you’ll earn an extra 14 bonus Swagbucks to use toward free stuff! The bills come out at midnight PT on Monday and will be available only through Search until 11:59pm PT on Valentine’s Day.

I love Swagbucks and can’t say enough about it! For instance you could be winning really big. Last month I put my reward points toward gifts cards and reaped the benefits big time. I just received my 20.00 order from the gifts cards I redeemed to Alice.com and I also earned 25.00′s worth of money toward Amazon.com which I used to purchase a few fun things for my kids and myself!

Don’t forget, today is Friday and that means it’s a Mega Swag Bucks Day!  That means an increased chance of getting bigger amount of Swagbucks!

I made molded crayons this week from my daughter’s broken pieces of crayons! I got the idea from multiple pins seen on Pintrest.com. I love Pintrest, because I can find things I want to do right away and I can share my inspiration with others. An awesome site that I recommend everyone to join! I’m going to share below what I did so that you can too!

Tools You’ll Need:

1 Popsicle Stick for Stiring the melted wax
1 Tin Can for melting the crayons in ( I would recommend using multiple cans for each color you are melting but I only had one at the time)
1 Chocolate Shape Tray ( I picked up a seashell one from my local craft store for about 1.00 using a coupon!)
1 Pot for for heating the Tin Can up and melting the wax.

 How to…

Gather all broken crayons and make sure the wrappers are taken off. You can get the kids to do that part because if your child is anything like mine, they are the reasons all the wrappers are missing anyways. Then have your kids sort the crayons by colors  into your tin cans.  The next part is something that you’ll probably want to do instead of your child depending on their age.

Then create a makeshift double boiler by filling a saucepan with water & set your cans, filled with crayons, inside. Bring the water to a boil and then down to a simmer, stirring every once in awhile with your Popsicle stick.

Once the crayon wax is melted, you’ll be ready to pour them into your molds! Make sure to use an oven mitt or potholder so you don’t burn yourself because things can get hot! Simply pour the wax into the mold. You can mix things up by adding two different colors and swirling around or you could add one color wax let it dry and pour a different color to finish the design.  Solid crayons work perfectly fine too!

I was surprised how fast the crayons cooled off! These slide right out when they are cool enough. I really enjoyed doing this and am looking forward to finding more fun mold shapes to make crayons out of. I think for my daughter’s birthday I’ll make some special crayons. I even found a Unicorn Candy Mold on Amazon that I know she’ll love! Possibilities and combinations are endless, I’ve seen rocket ships, cars, lego blocks, crosses, hearts, and so much more!

Have you ever made your own crayons? Share your experience with me here!

Creative and uniqueness fills every page of this darling hard-cover little book. I found myself tickled with the thought and sentiment that went into creating such a sweet a story about what a baby may dream about. The photography in this book is really nice and fits well with each corresponding page resembling a scene a baby may dream up. Photo props cleverly include things like blankets, shirts, a clothes line, stars made from fabrics, and more to create the scenes.

Through out the book you’ll see scenes of baby being a butterfly, astronaut, a book worm, a mermaid, and more! I really love the thought that went behind it all!  This book would make a fantastic baby shower gift, a possible muse for a budding newborn photographer, and a sweet book for a parent to share with their children. My kids ages 3 1/2 and 1 years old like this book. And it hasn’t faltered in making me smile yet!

You can purchase When My Baby Dreams for $9.32 on Amazon.com and it’s eligible for free super saving shipping too.

Disclosure: This review is 100% my opinion and has not been edited or reviewed by anyone. I was not compensated in any other way for this product review. Special thanks to Amazon for sending this book to my family to review.

Farmer Jason and Buddies Nature Jams  has 16 original songs on CD and includes a bonus DVD that features four fun music videos! The booklet that comes with the CD is very colorful and features really colorful eye catching illustrations for every song! Many guest artist sing along with Farmer Jason such as REM’s Mike Mills, Cheap Trick’s Tom Petersson, Iris Dement, Alison Brown, Suzy Bogguss, Brandi Carlile, Terrance Simien, Webb Wilder, Todd Snider, Tommy Ramone and Hank Williams III, and more!

Farmer Jason and Buddies Nature Jams has  been a huge hit with my children ages nearly 4 years old and a little over 1. My son loves the song Dison the Bison and whenever it plays he’ll go round and round in circles. And my daughter keeps asking when we’ll be able to go hiking at one of our local parks again. I admit I’m itching to get back out explore nature more myself too. The songs are fun and I really like that before each song plays that a background information discussion is added which is a great education aspect!

I encourage you to check out Nature Jams for yourself and pre-order your own copy today! And while you are at it, check out Farmer Jason’s newest record label  myKaZootv, which just launched [http://www.mykazootv.com], a new 24/7 interactive kids’ entertainment channel. myKaZootv features hundreds of kid-friendly  music videos, including several from Farmer Jason and his buddies. We invite you and your family to enjoy the fun, day or night, at: http://www.mykazootv.com.

**Fun fact: This CD has just won a Dove Foundation “Family Approved” seal and “five doves” -www.dove.org! **

-Win it!-

I’m excited that two of my readers are going to get the chance to win the following things;

A copy of Farmer Jason’s brand new CD  Nature Jams  (Value: $15)

One official MyKaZoo kazoo! This quality blue metal kazoo will provide kids with
hours of play-along fun, and it sports a myKaZoo logo (Value: $5)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: This review is 100% my opinion and has not been edited or reviewed by anyone. I was not compensated in any other way for this product review.

About the Book

One day Ollie’s mother tells him that he is “a beautiful gift.” Delighted with this new “identity,” Ollie invites his friend Benjamin to guess what it is. When poor Benjamin cannot guess, despite many hints, Ollie refuses to play with him. Seeing that he’s hurt his friend’s feelings, Ollie realizes that the best gift of all is friendship. Rohan Henry has wonderfully captured the interactions of young friends as they come to learn how to play together.

About the Author

Drivers, prepare to buckle up! The Adventures of Chuck & Friends: Friends To The Finish will arrive on DVD on February 14, 2012, from Shout! Factory in collaboration with Hasbro, Inc. Featuring 10 exhilarating episodes, The Adventures of Chuck & Friends also touts a color-your- own-cover activity.

Follow CHUCK THE DUMP TRUCK character and his incredible cast of friends in this delightfully fast-paced, song-filled, high-energy series for preschoolers. Every visitor to the truck stop where CHUCK lives fuels his exciting fantasies, and he enlists his pals Digger, Boomer, Rowdy, Soku, Biggs and Handy to turn those fantasies into reality.

The Adventures of Chuck & Friends series is currently airing on The Hub TV Network in the U.S. and on Treehouse in Canada.
Our Thoughts… 

It’s no surprise that The Adventures of Chuck & Friends: Friends to the Finish DVD has been a hit in my house. My 3 1/2 year old daughter isn’t really into princesses and girly girl shows and I have a one year old baby boy that loves anything that goes Vroom! I’m pretty happy that for the time being that they tend to like to watch the same things and there’s no fighting over “TV TIME”. I’m sure there will come a day when my daughter might be into chick flicks and my son ninja movies but oh boy that’s looking too far ahead and I’m sure there’s going to have to be some sort of ground rules and tv time splitting situations.  But until all that, I’m pleased that the kids are both happily enjoying Chuck and Friends together.

Parents will delight in knowing that this show is very family friendly. The show focus on teaching life lessons in a fun kid friendly way. There are lots of great characters all being different types of vehicles. My daughter has been singing the theme song of the show all week and my son is totally captivated by it!  Be warned it’s catchy! I welcome this wholesome entertainment and highly recommend Chuck and Friends  for boys and girls up to the age of six.

Check out the Slideshow of Images from the Show below!

The Adventures Of Chuck And Friends: Friends To The Finish
is available for pre-order from Amazon for $11.99 right now!

I printed out this Chuck and Friends Coloring Sheet for my kids this week and you can too!
Click below to download and print the PDF!

 -Win it!-

One of my readers will win The Adventures of Chuck & Friends:  Friends to the Finish on DVD!
Please Enter Below! Open to USA/Canada. No PO Box Please.  

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: I received the above mentioned products in exchange for my opinion of them. This review is 100% my opinion and has not been edited or reviewed by anyone. I was not compensated in any other way for this product review.

According to Dr. Travis Stork, emergency room physician and host of “The Doctors,” identifying whole grain products can be challenging. Shoppers can look for nutritional cues on the front of the box, but they need to read the ingredient list to know if they are getting enough whole grain. Ingredient lists detail ingredients in order of prevalence, and if the words “whole grain” are followed by a grain like wheat or oats, it means the food contains more whole grain than any other single ingredient. Here’s how to determine if your cereals have whole grain as a first ingredient:

With all the health messages facing grocery store shoppers, it can be confusing to translate what appears on food labels into nutritional needs, and hard to determine which foods have a meaningful amount of whole grain. Dr. Stork has some additional recommendations to help you include whole grain easily into your diet. They include:

After twenty-five years, they’re contemplating divorce . . . just as soon as their youngest son graduates from high school. But then an accident erases part of Noelle’s memory. Though her other injuries are minor, she doesn’t remember Eli, their children, or the tragedy that has ripped their family apart. What’s more, Noelle is shocked that her life has turned out nothing like she dreamed it would. As she tries to regain her memory and slowly steps into her role as a wife and mother, Eli helps her readjust to daily life with sometimes-hilarious, sometimes-heartwarming results. But can she fall in love again with a man she can’t remember?

Will their secrets destroy them . . . or has erasing the past given them a chance for a future? Read the story behind the story here.

My Thoughts…
Susan May Warren delivers yet another redeeming story and continues to keep me reading book after book. I’m always looking forward to future stories from her yet to be written.  I’ve had quite a year in 2011 and 2012 was starting out a bit bumpy too with overwhelming amounts of clutter, family issues, surgeries, and never ending strand of colds. The Shadow of Your Smile was the perfect read and exactly what I needed to inspire, inform, and remind me that my God is a God of second chances.

I felt and was drawn into the lives of these characters, each dealing with their own issues revolved around a single event that tragically changed their entire worlds.  Susan beautifully intertwined the lives of five characters in such a way. I loved how descriptive the surroundings were brought to life and felt as if I could see the beauty of Deep Haven as vast and rugged as it is.

This is story filled with tragedy, humor, love, separation, hidden secrets,  and forgiveness. There are scriptural references of which I always love to see in Christian fiction book. The story felt real and I am sure we can all relate in one way or another. There’s a good amount of Book Club discussion questions in the back too!  I like this book a lot and highly recommend it! Now to get my hands on the other Deep Haven Titles!

Read reviews by other readers in the Blog Tour at: http://litfusegroup.com/blogtours/text/13448479

More about Susan:

Susan May Warren is the RITA award-winning author of thirty novels with Tyndale, Barbour, Steeple Hill and Summerside Press. A four-time Christy award finalist, a two-time RITA Finalist, she’s also a multi-winner of the Inspirational Readers Choice award, and the ACFW Carol Award.

A seasoned women’s events speaker, she’s a popular writing teacher at conferences around the nation and the author of the beginning writer’s workbook: From the Inside-Out: discover, create and publish the novel in you!. She is also the founder of www.MyBookTherapy.com, a story-crafting service that helps authors discover their voice. You can find her online at: www.susanmaywarren.com.

Sometimes love requires a little forgetting … Come back to Deep Haven and find out what’s been happening in your favorite quaint hamlet. If you’re new to the Deep Haven series – this is the perfect book to start with – each book in the series is a stand alone story.

Susan is celebrating the release of The Shadow of Your Smile by giving away a prize pack worth over $200 from 1/9-1/28.

One grand prize winner will receive:

• A $200 Visa Gift Card (Use that to rekindle a little romance, treat yourself to a spa day, snap up those shoes you’ve been eyeing, or purchase a few great books!)
• The entire set of Deep Haven Books

The winner will be announced on 1/30/12 on Susan’s blog,Scribbles!
Just click one of the icons below to enter and tell your friends about Susan’s giveaway
on FACEBOOK or TWITTER and increase your chances of winning.

Disclosure: I received the above mentioned book in exchange for my opinion of it. This review is 100% my opinion and has not been edited or reviewed by anyone. I was not compensated in any other way for this book review.

I was sent one of the four ounce sized  Yum Yum Bowls to share my thoughts upon. This bowl is very eye catching, in fact the entire collection is offering colors  in cherry red, sunshine yellow,pistachio green and bold blue. On the inside of the bowl it reads “Yum Yum time is…and on the bottom of the bowl says “Over.” How cute is that? A reminder that even though we may want to eat more that we should stop at one serving!

The bowl itself also comes with a clear plastic lid for storing. This makes it easy to plan your desired snacks ahead of time!  Each bowl, is ceramic making it safe for the microwave and the dishwasher though it’s recommend to hand-wash. These are high quality and can be bought in sets of four at the price of $24.00.

These bowls are great for serving up snacks like pretzels, yogurt, fruits, nuts, ice cream, and much more! And not just great for moms but for kids too in teaching them about servings and when to stop!  I don’t know about anyone else but I have a son that will eat until he has a stomach ache! Portions are key! And don’t forget, they also have 9 inch dinner plate to help with portion controlled dinners too!

Get Connected:  Check out Yum Yum on Portion control central | Facebook | Twitter |

You can order your Yum Yum dishes at www.yumyumdish.com.

Disclosure: I received the above mentioned products in exchange for my opinion of them. This review is 100% my opinion and has not been edited or reviewed by anyone. I was not compensated in any other way for this product review.

As a mother of two very young children, often there’s not a whole lot of time for me to sit in quiet and spend a little time with the Lord. I welcome this book because I feel that the publisher and the authors recognized that in this day and age there’s a lot of scrounging around to find the time to make everything fit into our days.

Each devotion in this book is only one page. A Bible Verse opens the devotion followed by a short thought or story from one of the seven authors spotlighted in this book which include Tricia Goyer, Camy Tang, Sharon Hinck, and a few others. Ending the devotion is a “faith step” that shares a practical way to apply what you’ve just read to your life that day.

In the back of this devotional book, there’s a meet the author section, scripture reference index, a topical index, and a note from the editors. Overall I encourage you to check out this devotional. It’s a great book to strength & encourage you in your daily walk with God.

If you would like to learn more about this book visit Guideposts at: http://www.shopguideposts.org/index.php/mornings-with-jesus-2012.html & you can also Read 7 Sample Devotions from Mornings with Jesus 2012 Now

Disclosure: I received the above mentioned products in exchange for my opinion of them. This review is 100% my opinion and has not been edited or reviewed by anyone. I was not compensated in any other way for this product review.