review – Page 5 – Chocolate 'N Children

November 9, 2017November 9, 2017

Where We Belong – Review

I received this book free for purposes of my review. All opinions are my own.

Where We Belong by Lynn Austin was an intriguing read about two sisters who grew up in Victorian age American but preferred adventure and travel in defiance of the expected social rules of the day.

In this story of adventure and challenge you follow two sisters, Rebecca and Flora as they search for an important manuscript. You’ll learn about why they’re here, how they got here, and be inspired by their love of adventure.

This book reads a lot like a historical fiction, which I found confusing at first until I found out that the author was inspired by a true story of two sisters who found an important manuscript. While this book is not historical fiction and really only takes the topic from actual history, it’s still very fun to think about how those women may actually have discovered things.

I enjoyed reading about Rebecca and Flora’s journeys to different places, and the dangers, the friends, and the adventures they encountered on their way.

This post does contain affiliate links.

October 16, 2017October 16, 2017

Fall Favorites

I’m writing this post as one of a group of posts with other bloggers about some things/items we just love about Fall. After you read my post, check out their posts below and see what things other people like about fall as well!

There are things uniquely fall that I just love. The smell of apple cider, colorful leaves, and crisp mornings with a steaming cup of coffee, to name a few. While summer is my favorite season, I still enjoy fall, and all the different smells and sights that come with it.

I started working on this list and realized that my favorite things about fall seem to center around food. Caramel sauce, sweet potatoes, tea, etc. It’s just that time of year when I feel like baking and cooking. I included some food on my list but did my best to include some other things as well.

1. Mickey Jack O Lantern – I purchased this years ago at a silent auction. The tag said it was Disney though. Every fall, we pull it out and my kids use it as their bathroom nightlight all October and November.

I hide it again when we return home after Thanksgiving, and we save it for next year. I think the kids love seeing the fun Mickey smile through the fall, plus it’s not terribly bright so it makes a perfect nightlight.

2. Fall Candles – I just love candles, and fall has some really great scents. Pumpkin, leaves, cinnamon, apple, etc. All those wonderful, comfort scents that come with fall. Plus since it’s getting cooler out it’s nice to have a candle burning to give the feeling of warmth – since I don’t have a fireplace.

I love a fireplace, there just isn’t one in my house. So I make do with what I can. For me, that means lots of candles in the fall and winter months.

My favorite brand is Yankee Candle. They just always burn well and smell so great! This Autumn Wreath scent is one of my favorites, it’s fall, without being festive. Since I like to save the December holiday scents for December so I can enjoy fall for as long as possible.

The real trick with candles is keeping my kids from blowing them out before I’m ready. Since my kids just love blowing out candles.

3. Russian Tea – My husband introduced me to this years ago. It’s a super simple “tea” to make, delicious, and so perfect for a crisp fall evening. Last week, I mixed up my first batch of Russian Tea for this fall. It’s something everyone in my family loves. And with the Tang, it even has some vitamin C.

I love to mix up a mason jar full and just keep it on my counter for whenever I want a cup.

Russian Tea

1 cup Tang
1 cup instant tea (I prefer Lipton)
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

Pour all ingredients in a mason jar, close the lid, shake until well mixed.

To make tea, mix two heaping spoonfuls of mix with boiling water in a coffee cup.

4. Salad Spinner – It’s that time of year when my CSA gives me lots of lettuce. Around here, we get lettuce in the spring and lettuce in the fall. My salad spinner is a lifesaver. I love salad, and fresh lettuce is delicious, but it’s a pain to dry.

This salad spinner works great, and is so easy to use that usually my kids spin my lettuce dry for me. I usually spin a whole head of lettuce, dry my spinner, then just cover it with a towel in the fridge and I have delicious, clean, lettuce in my fridge for days!

I bought my spinner a few years ago so it’s no longer available on Amazon, but I did find one that looks just like it.

5. Leaves – And last but not least, I just love the leaves in the fall. I love the colors, the crunch, and just the fun of making a pile and then playing in it. I don’t do much jumping in leaves these days, but it sure is fun to watch the kids play in the leaves. The great part is the play, rake, play, and wear themselves out, then all come in and take baths. It makes for a very fun day for them with minimal effort from me.

What’s one thing you love about fall? Check out these other awesome blogs for more fall inspiration!

* This post does contain affiliate links.

October 9, 2017October 7, 2017

Crown of Souls – Review

I received this book free for purposes of my review. All opinions are my own.

Crown of Souls – Ronie Kendig

This book is the 3rd in Ronnie Kendig’s Tox Files series and is my favorite of the three. Gripping from beginning to end, this book was fun and entertaining to read.

The book starts with Tox being shot and the action just continues from there. Tox is forced to face his personal conflicts all while hunting down a deranged killer and keeping his team alive.

When an old army friend goes rogue, Tox and his team have to find him and stop him. Can Tox find him in time, can the team stop what he’s doing?

As they pursue, Tox learns more about himself than he really wanted to know. And he has to make hard decisions about how to protect his team and those he loves without becoming the monster that he is trying to stop.

I enjoyed this book and am looking forward to reading number four of the Tox Files when it comes out.

October 7, 2017

Jeremy Camp – The Answer – Review and Giveaway

I received this CD free for purposes of my review. All opinions are my own.

Jeremy Camp – The Answer

I love “Word of Life” by Jeremy Camp so I was super excited to review his new CD. Word of Life is the cover song for this CD, so I figured I would probably like the rest of the CD as well.

I love how his music is upbeat and fun to listen to and sing along with. With songs like “My Father’s Arms” and “Love so Great”, this CD is full of great music that me and my kids have been enjoying.

My 4yr old son is excited to have a new CD with a male singer. He has two older sisters who prefer female musicians because they’re easier for them to sing along with. I told him that the CD is his and he listens to it as much as he can. He’s so excited to have his own CD and I love that he has some new music that’s not only fun and child appropriate but that also has a great message.

And check out Jeremy Camp’s music video for Word of Life. It’s so much fun!

And, thanks to FlyBy I get to give away one copy of this new CD. It was released today, Oct. 6th so it’s super new! Enter below for a chance to win.

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October 5, 2017October 5, 2017

Matt Redman – Glory Song – Review and Giveaway

I received this CD free for purposes of my review. All opinions are my own.

Matt Redman – Glory Song

My 4yr old son was so excited to get a CD with a boy singer, as he puts it. I like Matt Redman so I was excited about reviewing this CD.

Matt Redman teamed up with several of his worship-artist friends for this album, first releasing the track “Gracefully Broken (feat. Tasha Cobbs Leonard).” Tasha Cobbs Leonard also released her own version of this song on the same day!

The album also features Kierra Sheard, Guvna B, Madison Cunningham, and Kim Walker-Smith.

I put this in the car and we’re all enjoying listening to it while we run errands, drop off kids, pick up kids, etc. It’s so much fun to have new music that everyone likes. The music on this CD is upbeat but not too loud and really a great CD for in the car. My favorite song one “Greatest Hallelujah” the music and the words just go together so well in this song!

And Gracefully Broken with Tasha Cobbs Leonard is just beautiful!

You can download the music from iTunes.

And, enter below for a chance to win a copy of the new Matt Redman – Glory Song CD.

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September 21, 2017

How to Listen so People Will Talk – Review

I received this book free for purposes of my review. All opinions are my own.

How to Listen so People will Talk – Becky Harling

I don’t know about you, but I have a problem with not listening to people and then being frustrated when people aren’t listening to me. I have a couple of friends who are really good listeners and I’ve really been observing this year and trying to figure out what makes them people that I want to talk to.

I was excited that I got to review this book, because I really wanted to know. How do I listen so people will talk to me. My friends, my kids, my husband, even the random lady at the grocery checkout. Yes, all my life, random people will literally tell me their life story. Though, these past couple of years, having multiple kids seems to slow that down a little. And I started wondering if it was actually the kids, or is it me. Have I just gotten bad at listening?

I picked up several really good tips from this book. Though, my favorite was the section on “listen to another’s story”. Just thinking about how I listen and framing it around listening as they tell their story – because everything in life is a story – has really helped me actually stop trying to talk and just listen. It’s all about developing better listening habits. Want to know more about what it means to listen to someone’s story, you should buy the book.

There were several other really great tips in this book, and combining them with my focus of listening to another’s story is working really well for me. I’m not sure if my kids and husband are comfortable talking more, or if they’re talking the same and I’m just paying better attention, but I do feel like I’m hearing more of what they say, more of their story. And I’m happy to be hearing more from the people that I love.

This post contains affiliate links.

August 4, 2017July 28, 2017

Praying for Girls – Review

I received this book free for purposes of my review, all opinions are my own.

Praying for Girls by Teri Lynne Underwood – Asking God for the Things they Need Most.

If you have daughters and don’t really know how to pray for them, this book is perfect for you. The author has suggestions for praying for your daughters both young and older across 5 different areas of her life.

Each section has several chapters that break down the topic, and each chapter has suggested verses, prayers, and activities for you and your daughter so that you can pray and press into these topics with your daughter and pray some more.

The ideas for engaging with your daughter are simple, practical, and great conversation starters for pressing into some of the more difficult areas of growing up.

For my girls, they’re young, so I think just now beginning to think about their purposes – which is one of the areas covered. There are some great prayers and conversation starters for me to use to begin digging into this a little bit now and then I can add on as they get older.

Praying for Girls was easy to read and is a great book for me to continue to refer to as my girls get older.

July 31, 2017July 30, 2017

3Doodler Party and Review

This is a sponsored post. Thanks to Tryazon for this awesome party pack!

In our party pack we received:

I’d seen the 3Doodler sets advertised and really wanted to get one for the kids but hadn’t done it yet. I was super excited to get picked for this party. And the product didn’t let me down!

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My 8yr old loves the pen and had no trouble figuring out how to use it. Basically, you have a battery operated pen (rechargeable) that you feed plastic sticks into. The plastic is melted by the pen and you use it to create 3D objects. The melted plastic is warm to the touch but not hot enough to burn or harm you or your kids. And it solidifies completely in about 10 seconds. Even my 4yr old enjoys using the 3Doodler.

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At 4 he doesn’t quite have the fine motor skills to create anything very impressive but he has a blast doing what his older sisters are doing and crafting with them.

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I did make him a helicopter and he just loves it! It was actually way easier to make than I expected. The 3Doodler Start kit has templates included and it makes it so easy to create some fun 3D plastic items!

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Though, sharing is hard, but they managed! We’ve had so much fun with our 3Doodler both at the party and after. And the kids just love experimenting and discovering what new things they can create!

I enjoy crafting and I just love any product that gets my kids creating different things in different ways. This 3Doodler is awesome and so much fun for both kids and adults!

Check out these tips here for getting started with your own 3Doodler.

Or take a look at this YouTube video to help you get started on your first project. It’s so easy and fun!

July 30, 2017

Using Cars.com to Find the Best Car

This is a Sponsored Post

First things first, when car hunting, you need to figure out what kind of car you want. My husband is considering a new car and what he wants is vastly different from the kind of car we looked for when we needed a new family car.

With 3 kids and one on the way, we have a minivan because we need the space. For my husband, he’s often driving his cars to meetings and its just him so we need something smaller, with good gas mileage.

We currently have an older BMW and love it, so we don’t feel the need to switch brands. Which helps narrow down what we’re looking for. It’s just time to upgrade.

So, now that we’ve figured out what kind of car we’re looking for, we have to narrow down our search. No one wants to run all over town looking at cars that they don’t want. So we head over to cars.com and start searching.

Entering search criteria is super easy, make, model, price constraints, and distance from where you live. Everything you need to narrow your search down.

Once you start your search there’s extras you can add to narrow it down. Like, leather seats are a must for us, and since we won’t buy a car without them, there’s no point waisting time looking if the cars don’t have leather seats. And hubby really wants a keyless start so I selected that option as well. That leaves me with 12 options on my first search. By the time my husband looks at it and pares it down a little more based on color and any other particulars that he’d like to see, there’s only going to be a couple that we’ll end up looking at.

On each car’s individual page you can see pictures, contact the dealer, and even see the carfax report. There’s a list of car features, price comparison, and an estimated payments calculator for if you plan to get financing for your purchase.

You can even research a specific car model and see what others say about it. What’s good about it and what people don’t like.

If you’re wanting to research your car before you even start test driving cars.com is the perfect place to start.

July 27, 2017

Back to School With Jane

This is a sponsored post. Thanks to Jane for providing the free back to school items for review! All opinions are my own.

Jane is a daily deal site for the whole family. I got the opportunity to shop on Jane for some back to school items. I bought some backpack tags and a first/last day of school card set. Shipping took a little while on the tags – because they’re custom – and the cards arrived very quickly. I’m very happy with the quality of the items that I ordered. And my kids are super excited to have some cool Back to School items.

First off, have you ever tried to get 3 excited kids to stand still for a picture? It’s basically impossible! I did get their bag tags attached to their bags but they weren’t shy about moving around while I was photographing. They’re apparently all ready to go!
I am quite happy with the tags. They’re a nice thick plastic and my kids names and my phone number are printed on so I don’t have to worry about the information getting lost somehow. This is perfect for if my child looses their backpack or if my child gets lost while at co-op, preschool, or other school activities.

They each picked out their favorite color for the tag. And I think that the tags match well with their backpacks.

Plus the kids are super excited to have their names on their backpacks. I’m sure their teachers are going to appreciate this as well!

The next item I ordered was the First Day of … / Last Day of… cards. The front of the card has The First Day and the back of the card has The Last Day. They come in a deck with preschool to college so I’m basically set for the rest of my life!

I just love the bright colors on these cards! Though, after we took pictures, the kids wouldn’t let me have them back. They insisted on hanging their posters on their walls.

I’m fairly certain preschool is going to have their hands full with him. I was going for a nice picture and this is what I got!

She’s all ready for first grade. Her reading and math have both actually improved over the summer so she’s definitely ready to have a great first grade year!

And this girl is all ready for fourth grade! I’m not sure I’m ready. Seriously, how do I have a fourth grader already? It seems like just yesterday she was a baby.

We had bunches of fun browsing Jane and finding some fun Back to School items. They even have some back to school t-shirts that I suggested to the kids but they thought the posters were way cooler for some reason and since it’s all about them being excited about getting back to School, I got them what they requested.