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Summer Recipes

Terra Delyssa

I love summer! I love the water sports, the outside time, and the food! So, I was super excited to try out some olive oils from Terra Delyssa. I use a lot of olive oil in the summer because it’s perfect for grilling and cooking.

Terra Delyssa’s olives are grown in Tunisia and then are cold pressed for a terrific quality extra virgin olive oil.

I am really enjoying all the infused olive oils that they sent me. It’s nice to be able to add a little extra flavor to my dishes.

The first one I tried out was the red pepper. I cooked it with some pasta, red bell peppers, bacon crumbles, habanero peppers, and parmesan cheese. It was delicious and made a great quick summer afternoon lunch!

Corico

And, what yells summer more than cold treats? I love olives! So I was excited to try out this new Olive Boat from Corico.

This is awesome for a summer dinner party. You just drop the olive pits in the center and the plate looks nice a clean all evening. It’s amazing!

It’s also great for those private snacking sessions when I just want something cold and I want to stay away from sweet foods like ice cream. This is perfect and makes it more fun to eat healthy snacks!

 

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CSB Explorer Bible Review & Giveaway

Many thanks to Lifeway Christian Resources for providing a sample of the product for this review. Opinions are 100% my own and NOT influenced by monetary compensation.

Introducing the new CSB Explorer Bible for Kids! With fun facts, timelines, photography, and more. Kids will see the Bible as real, exciting, and life-changing. QR codes even bring engaging videos, discussion questions, and activity pages to life! Available in hardcover and leathertouch editions.

I received a cardcover copy to review. I’m loving the bright pictures and fun illustrations. It makes it so much easier for my kids to read the Bible when it’s at a reading level they can handle and when it looks so fun! Some of the awesome features of this Bible include:

  • The engaging QR codes helps kids place God’s Word in the middle of God’s
    World.
  • Engaging features, easy-to-read 8.5 pt text, and full-color design connect with kids’ natural curiosity and help them experience the wonder and truth of the Bible.
  • From the two tables of content — one in order and one sorted alphabetically — to the topical concordance and index of Bible stories, each detail is designed to give kids the tools to find their way around God’s Word.
  • The CSB Explorer Bible for Kids invites young readers to investigate both the world and words of Scripture, including the history of real people and their cultures.
  • Alongside the CSB text, special features help readers understand the central message within each book and discover how all books of the Bible fit together.

Get 50% off your CSB Explorer Bible TODAY by using the code EXPLORERGIFT50. Valid for 50% off retail price for up to 1 copy of the CSB Explorer Bible for Kids. This is only available at LIFEWAY.COM. VALID THROUGH 12/31/22, CANNOT BE COMBINED WITH ANY OTHER OFFER, LIMIT 1 COUPON PER PERSON.

Enter below for a chance to win your very own CSB Explorer Bible!

 

#ExplorerBibleMIN #ExplorerBibleForKids #MomentumInfluencerNetwork

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Abide Bible Review & Giveaway

Many thanks to Thomas Nelson Bibles for providing a sample of the product for this review. Opinions are 100% my own and NOT influenced by monetary compensation.

I received this beautiful Bible to review. I had challenged my kids to read through the Bible in 2023 (they get to pick their version as I have a lot of different reading levels in my house) and my teen snapped this Bible up as soon as it arrived.

She loves that it has space on the side for her to doodle and write notes. And she loves the soft cover on this Bible. And honestly, I think she’s super excited about having a new Bible for her reading through the Bible challenge this year!

Features include:

  • Bible book introductions provide a concise overview of the background
    and historical context of the book about to be read
  • 365 Day Bible Reading Plan guiding you through the entire Bible in a year
  • Line-matched, single-column Scripture text for improved readability
  • Smyth-sewn binding lays flat in your hand or on your desk
  • Two satin ribbon markers allows you to easily navigate and keep track of
    where you were reading
  • Easy-to-read 9-point NET Comfort Print

Wanting some inspiration for what to read? Check out The Abide Experience: 21 Days in John, a FREE Video Devotion featuring Dr. Phil Collins, general editor of the Abide Bible, a Bible designed around five methods of Scripture Engagement that will change the way you read Scripture.

The Abide Experience is FREE and includes 21 Video devotions delivered by email and a full download of the book of John from The Abide Bible!

Transform your personal Bible devotions into intimate, ongoing conversations with God with various Scripture engagement approaches that keep Bible reading fresh and new. “Abide in Me.” John 15:4 Do you yearn for life-giving, intimate communion with God? The Abide Bible is designed to help you experience the peace, hope, and growth that comes from encountering the voice and presence of God in Scripture. Every feature in Abide is designed to teach and develop Scripture-engagement habits that help you know the power and spiritual nourishment of abiding in Christ.

And, for ongoing motivation, created in partnership with Bible Gateway and the Taylor University Center for Scripture Engagement, The Abide Bible’s features include articles, book introductions, and practical Scripture engagement prompts based on five ways of engaging deeply with the Bible such as:

  • Praying Scripture: Pattern your prayers after biblical texts, personalizing the
    prayer and gaining language for the thoughts and emotions you want to express.
  • Picture It: Place yourself in a biblical narrative as a bystander or participant in
    important events.
  • Journaling: Focus and reflect on Scripture and its meaning for your life, opening yourself to God’s voice as you ponder.
  • Engage Through Art: Consider a classic piece of art—photograph, sculpture,
    painting—and let it deepen your meditations on scriptural truths.
  • Contemplate: Follow the church’s longstanding practice of reading, meditating on, praying, and contemplating a passage of Scripture in order to experience God’s presence through the words of the Bible.

Want to check it out for yourself? Enter below for a chance to win a copy of the Abide Bible.

 

#AbideBibleMIN #MomentumInfluencerNetwork

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The Tiger Rising Movie – Review

*Sponsored Post*

I received a pre-screening link to watch Tiger Rising. Queen Latifah and Dennis Quaid star in this beloved tale based on the New York Times best-selling book by Kate DiCamillo. When 12-year-old Rob Horton (Christian Convery) discovers a caged tiger in the woods near his home, his imagination runs wild and life begins to change in the most unexpected ways. With the help of a wise and mysterious maid, Willie May (Queen Latifah) and the stubborn new girl in school (Madalen Mills), he navigates through childhood memories, heartache, and wondrous adventures in this heartwarming adaptation.

This film started and I wasn’t sure that I was going to like it, but, me and my 11yr old were glued to the tv for the entire movie! I know the trailer and such are all about the tiger. But really, the tiger is a representation of some of the struggles of childhood and learning to find your “inner tiger”.

I love how this film opened up an easy way to talk about the things that my kids find challenging and puzzling in their life and how we might start working through them together.

Plus…there’s a tiger!

Check out the Tiger Rising Website. And if you want some help getting the conversation started, they have some great resources available.

This film is being released digitally Feb 8. Enter below for a chance to win a digital copy for yourself!

#TigerRisingFilmMIN #TigerRisingFilm #MomentumInfluencerNetwork

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Christmas Gift Basket

*Sponsored Post*

One thing I love to do is hand out Christmas Gift baskets to friends, neighbors, teachers, employees, and basically anyone else I can think of this time of year. This year, I found several fun, new items to include in my gift baskets!

I LOVE gifting snacks! I feel like their consumable – so they don’t sit around someone’s house forever. And, I feel like snacks are super easy to regift. If you don’t like a specific snack, wrap it up and pass it on to that impossible person to shop for on your gift list. So, this year, I’m including a few favorites and a few new items as well.

Dot’s Homestyle Pretzels – I discovered these a couple years ago and just cannot get enough of them. They’re amazing! Seriously. I don’t actually ever like pretzels, but these are so good. They have tons of flavor and a great crunch.

Hot Monkey Nuts – They sent me 3 of their 6 different hot nuts to review. And they don’t disappoint. They’re hot! And full of flavor. My kids don’t like spicy, so these are mine and my hubby’s (who loves spicy!) and we’re sticking a few in Christmas Baskets for friends who we know love a little heat. They’re gluten free and made with non-GMO ingredients. So, not only tasty and fun to eat, but also a pretty healthy snack – something we all need a little more of during the holidays.

Congo Tropicals – They sent me coffee and chocolate to review. But, they also ship other tropical fruits – or there’s local delivery if you’re in Florida. I usually find dark chocolate a bit bitter but this Congo Organic Dark Chocolate is delicious! It’s got lots of chocolate flavor without being bitter. Amazing! I can’t be without my coffee and this coffee is terrific! I had coffee in my gift baskets last year as well and it was amazingly popular, so I’m excited about sharing another new coffee brand with friends!

Preggo Pickle – These are made by the pickle company. They have 3 flavors of preggo pickles and 3 different kinds of pickles (if you’re not wanting to give preggo pickles to friends there’s also the Pickle Co and Cleveland Pickle). Though, I will say. I love pickles – see above, I could pretty much live on pickles and coffee and chocolate – and these are delicious! They’re cut kinda chunky and they have amazing flavor. Even friends who aren’t pregnant, I want to give some pickles to, because they’re so good! These pickles are certified kosher, vegan, soy free, dairy free, gluten free, and fat free. Basically perfect for practically everyone on your list!

Apex Meat Sticks – I love a good meat stick pretty much any time of the year, and I feel like the holidays are a great time for gifting unique protein snacks like these. Of course, my kids tried to steal all mine for after school snacks! Theses Jalapeno Flavor Backcountry Meat Sticks are amazing. They’re just enough spicy, but not too much and each stick has so much protein, it’s almost not a snack! I have been slipping a couple sticks into each of my gift baskets this year. It’s a super fun way to gift the traditional “meat and cheese” while being just a tad non-traditional.

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Pure Flix – Review and Giveaway

Sponsored Post

Pure Flix is a faith based family-friendly streaming video service. Their mission is to stream inspiring and faith-affirming TV shows, movies, and original series.

One of these series is Vindication. It’s Pure Flix’s very own Cop Drama. You can check it out here.

In my efforts to review this episode, I accidentally watched episode 6 of season 1 first. Whoops! Of course, now I need to finish watching season one!

Though, comparing the episodes, I do think that season 2 is an improvement on season 1 and I’m enjoying season 2 more.

Once I finally watched “The Facade”, which is Vindication Season 2, Episode 6, I liked it. It was an interesting episode about an eccentric photographer and a suspected crime.

They did a good job of keeping it interesting all the way through and left me excited about watching the next episode.

Aside from this drama, Pure Flix also has a fun collection of classics, kids movies and shows, and comedies. Plus a lot more! Basically, there’s something for everyone in my family.

Check out Pure Flix for yourself and enter below for a chance to win a free 6 month subscription to Pure Flix!

#VindicationMIN

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Roar Like a Lion – Review and Giveaway

Many thanks to Thomas Nelson for providing this product/product information for review.  Opinions are 100% my own and NOT influenced by monetary compensation.  I did receive the product in exchange for this review and post.

Roar Like a Lion by Levi Lusko with Tama Fortner is a 90 day devotional book for kids.

With eye-catching art, fascinating stories and facts, Bible verses and prayers, and simple action steps, this 90-day devotional will help your kids approach both fun moments and tough times with their hearts set on God’s faithfulness.

  • Facing fears about school and friendships
  • Dealing with peer pressure and bullying
  • Handling new challenges, disappointments, and grief
  • Having courage to try something new
  • Understanding how we each fit into God’s great story

I love the fun pictures and the little extra info in the bubble at the end of each devotion . I also love how each devotion is short and perfect for reading to kids.

Each devotion starts with a verse and ends with a little prayer. And, 90 days of devotions is perfect for encouraging a daily devotion habit in my kiddos. They’re enjoying these devotions and absolutely LOVE the lion on the cover!

You can order your own copy here! And enter the giveaway below for a chance to win a copy of Roar Like a Lion!

 

#RoarLikeALionMIN #roarlikealion #tommynelsonbooks

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Teen Gift Ideas

*This post contains sponsored content and affiliate links*

For me, August is the month of Birthdays. Throw in some Back to School and end of Summer stuff and it’s just pure insanity! So, in honor of having my first official teenager this year, I put together a fun gift guide for my Girl.

Soo’AE

Skincare is super important for every teen girl. And what better way to kick off her teen beauty routine than with these awesome natural, vegan, cruelty-free, eco-friendly products from Soo’AE!

The face wash, face cream, and face masks are gentle and made with clean & green ingredients. So, they’re good for my daughter’s skin and good for the environment as well. I especially love that the masks are 95% natural!

We had a fun at home spa night with the masks and enjoyed hanging out with each other for a little while.

Spooky America

My kids LOVE ghost stories! Just as much as they love s’mores around a campfire.  And while I have no issues with them hearing / reading ghost stories, I do my best to make sure that these stories are age appropriate for them.

My daughter doesn’t know yet that there are 32 of these books and not just 2 – as soon as she figures that out, her Christmas list will be 30 books long…

My girls actually swiped these the minute they arrived and I had to go hunt them down just to photograph them (while the girls supervised so I didn’t “loose” any in my bedroom).

They told me that the stories aren’t really scary, but they’re very fun. And they want more of them. They’re also unwilling to let me borrow their books because they’re afraid I’ll keep them for myself!

These are definitely on my “need to buy the whole series” list!

Hogwarts Cookbook for Kids

I may or may not have been more excited about this cookbook than my daughter was. Though, my kids have been all about Harry Potter this summer! They had a friend at summer camp ask them about it and they all realized that they’ve never seen it.

So, our Summer family movie nights were all about Harry Potter. She was super excited about her new cookbook and has handed me a grocery shopping list a mile long!

So far, we’ve tried one of the sandwich recipes and everyone was thrilled with it.

 

Fidgets

My daughter was given an Amazon gift card for her birthday and guess what she rushed to buy? Fidgets! I had not idea that these things could come in this many different shapes, but there really is a lot of variety here.

And these days, when in doubt, a fidget for someone’s Birthday is the way to go!

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Mother’s Day Gift Ideas

I received these products free to review.

Mixtiles

Looking for a fun Mother’s Day gift? Or, maybe you forgot a gift and want to give something after the day? Snap some pictures and give your mom some Mixtiles!

You simply upload your pictures, select your frame preference, and they show up all ready to hang a couple days later.

What I really love about these, is they have a sticky back, so you can just stick them to the wall – no nails needed! Which I will say my entire household appreciates because I can never get it right with the first nail! If you don’t like the way they look, want to rearrange, or want to swap in some new ones, they just pull right off the wall without damaging your wall and can be restuck in a different place.

So, pull out some favorite pics or snap a couple new pics with your mom and get her something fun and memorable!

Color my Cookie

I’d seen ads for Color my Cookie so I was super excited when offered the opportunity to try them out. And, they’re way better than I expected! I thought they were cool, but really, these are super cool and so fun!

Your cookies arrive in this little box. The box has your cookies, your paint pallet cookie, your paintbrush, sprinkles, and any extras. My box had this extra gold glitter that is super cool!

I highly recommend scanning the QR code and watching their super short how-to video before you start decorating. It answered all my questions about how to “paint” my cookies, how to get the sprinkles to stay on, etc.

I was having so much fun I even painted my paint pallet! Maybe get a couple kits so you can decorate with your mom, and so she doesn’t have to share her cookies with you, because not only do they look terrific, they also taste good and everyone is going to want one!

The Idle Free Box

This box is packed full of fun activities! They have a monthly subscription or just get one for your Mom. There are enough activities in a single box that I was able to share activities with my kids and keep a couple of my favorites (like the puzzle) for myself!

There’s more than just crafts. There’s also a home workout sheet with daily exercises – scan the QR code to access how to videos for these! There’s a free 15 minute session with a life coach. And they even included a brochure with a hotline for mental health assistance if you just need someone to talk to.

So far, the coloring sheets and pencils have been a favorite in my house. We’re still coloring. There were several fun pictures to color! I’ve been waiting for a non-rainy day to do the resin kit outside – and in the spring dry days are few and far between around here but I can’t wait to make my coasters! Scan the QR code for project instructions, they’re super easy to follow!

And I’m saving the puzzle for a post end of school year treat for myself. We’re in the middle of recitals and presentations and tests so there’s no puzzling time this week, but I’m looking forward to working it when summer gets here.

There’s so much fun stuff in this box and plenty to share so Mom can choose to do a fun activity with you or choose to do it on her own.

Happy Mother’s Day!

 

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Vooks Giveaway

Many thanks to Vooksfor providing this product/product information for review.  Opinions are 100% my own and NOT influenced by monetary compensation. I did receive a sample of the product in exchange for this review and post.

Try free for 30 days! Go to www.vooks.com to sign up!

What is Vooks?

  • Vooks is a streaming library of ad-free, kid-safe animated storybooks, trusted by teachers and enjoyed by millions of children around the world each week.
  • Vooks is an entire library of storybooks, brought to life, to help encourage the love of reading.
  • 100% kid-friendly and parent-approved!
  • Vooks strengthens literacy and vocabulary & promotes independent learning!
  • Vooks has free, fun and printable lesson plans!
  • Vooks lesson plans offer discussion topics, engaging activities, and more!

What do I like about Vooks?

  • The books are fun! Seriously, my kids have watched Ruckus on the Ranch a dozen times already.
  • So many books. We’ve been exploring Vooks for over a week now and haven’t seen them all yet.
  • Once you watch one you have to watch more. I love that it’s hard for my kids to stop at just one book.
  • It inspires play. My kids discovered that they can get our home speaker to play Ruckus on the Ranch and now we have a whole ranch / cowboy play that they’re planning for the backyard this summer!
  • It makes books fun. And now they want to read more books on Vooks and not on Vooks.
  • So many lesson plans! There might be a plan for every book, there’s a lot of them!

There are a lot of books on Vooks. And with 4 kids, it’s nice to have someone else read to my kids! The books on here are so cute and fun. There’s music, animation, and of course, all the words for the kids to follow along. There are 4 languages to choose from and from what I can see, it looks like all the books are available in all 4 languages. Which is pretty cool! There’s a Vooks app for devices and it works on an internet browser, so you have a variety of ways to view.

But, best of all, my kids love Vooks!

Want to check it out for yourself? Try free for 30 days! Go to www.vooks.com to sign up!

AND I get to give away a one year subscription to Vooks! Enter below and head over to my Instagram for a couple extra entries!

 

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