Archive for html404

Book Review – The Pineapple Story

Posted by html404 on June 5, 2010
in Books

Pineapple Story

I have been wanting to tell you about The Pineapple Story for a while now and am just getting around to it. This is a book, but also a CD set, written by a missionary about his experience on the mission field. It shares how God uses the missionary’s pineapple story to conquer the missionary’s anger. It really reveals how we can all struggle with learning and applying the principle of giving up our rights for someone else.

We really enjoy this book. I think the illustrations are done very well. We also enjoy the CD set of several of the missionary’s talks about his life on the mission field. He tells the story in a very humorous way. The children really seem to enjoy him, at least the older girls. I know the younger children enjoy the book, but I cannot seem to remember their reaction to the audio set. Sorry!


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bebe-O Prenatal Vitamins Review

Posted by html404 on June 4, 2010
in Pregnancy and Birth

I received the following product in exchange for writing a review. While I consider it a privilege to receive free products to review, my review is my honest opinion and thoughts of the product.

Pregnancy
Photograph used courtesy of Ben Earwicker

We all know that health, nutrition and exercise in pregnancy is very important to the overall well-being of the expectant mama and her baby. Most health care providers highly recommend that women take a prenatal vitamin during pregnancy. This has been hard for me because most of the ones that I have tried and used caused me great discomfort and constipation. Sorry to be so open, but it is true.

I have stated before that my iron has been low in my current pregnancy, which is a first for me. So I have been taking Floradix, which is a liquid form of iron that is easily absorbed and non-constipating. Then I came across a review opportunity for bebe-O Prenatal Vitamins ($38.95 value) , I thought I would take it since I didn’t have any prenatal vitamins. I have been taking a multivitamin that I bought for the children, but most of them still struggle with swallowing pills (I didn’t think about that fact when I bought them!).

Surprisingly, I haven’t had any noticeable problems with bebe-O Prenatal Vitamins. I have been taking them for two weeks. No constipation or other adverse affects that I know of, but remember I have been experiencing nausea throughout this pregnancy at odd times, so I cannot say these will not cause nausea. At least mine has been no worse, I can honestly say that.

bebe-O Prenatal Vitamins

bebe-O Prenatal Vitamins are registered by the Vegan Society, contain 100% Vegan ingredients, which are pure whole foods nutrients and antioxidants. They are hypoallergenic, contain no animal products (obviously since the Vegan society approves of them 🙂 ), nor do they have GMOs, artificial colors or flavors, sweeteners or petrochemicals.

Ingredients List: Vegetable Capsule, Rice Flour, and Magnesium Stearate. May Contain: Traces of Peanuts and Soy.

I really like that the bebe-O Prenatal Vitamins are an all natural product. I don’t get my hemoglobin tested for another four weeks, so won’t know if they helped increase my iron until then. I will try to remember to let you all know at that time. However, so far I have had a very positive experience taking bebe-O Prenatal Vitamins.

You may purchase this product at www.bebe-o.com


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Organic Baby Layette Review

Posted by html404 on June 3, 2010
in Baby Products, Eco Friendly Products

I received the following product in exchange for writing a review. While I consider it a privilege to receive free products to review, my review is my honest opinion and thoughts of the product.

I really love doing reviews and consider it a privilege when companies and Public Relations reps (PR reps) choose me to do a review. So when the opportunity arose to review one of Kushies Organic Layette, I took it! We don’t find out what the sex of our babies are, so I chose the Spring/Summer Organic Stars and Stripes Long Johns in Sage in a 3 month size as my babies are usually 8 lbs or over. I think The Stars and Stripes outfit is adorable, but I wanted to know for sure if it would fit a baby so I could tell you all. Therefore, I tried it on my daughter’s doll and she looks cute too, don’t you think?

Organic Baby Layette

The outfit washed up really nice and the organic cotton is soft. The outfit did seem to shrink a bit. I am really looking forward to wearing it on our new baby in 11 weeks – give or take a few days.

Kushies Product Description:

These Kushies Classic Layette pieces are 100% Certified Organic Cotton Interlock in a delicate palette of pink, blue, ivory and sage. A mixture of solids, stripes and star prints are accompanied by horse motif screen prints and appliques that give this group a lot of impact. Coverseaming details are found on all pieces to give this classic collection an extra touch! Organic Stars and Stripes is offered in sizes Preemie to 18 months. Price $21.99.


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Wordless Wednesday – Piano Recital

Posted by html404 on June 2, 2010
in Family Stuff, Wordless Wednesday

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Original Deppa Handbag Review

Posted by html404 on June 1, 2010
in Eco Friendly Products

I received the following product as part of my compensation for work that I do at home. I have really enjoyed both of my Deppa handbags from five ACCESSORIES . I have been using my brown one as my purse/carry-all and the red one is holding all my gardening books from the library. They are very sturdy, but I will get to that in a minute.

One day my neighbor noticed this handbag as we were heading out to the library. She commented on it and told us how much she liked it. She then proceeded to ask my daughter, who was helping load up the van, where we got it. I couldn’t help but think that other moms should know about it too, so that is why I decided to write a review. Even though my neighbor did express a few days later how pricey the handbags are, but they are very well made, I have to say. There’s nothing worse than finding something you like that is cheap but doesn’t last long. One of my pet peeves! Sometimes we get what we pay for, kwim?

This is five’s Original Red Deppa Bag . It is from a fair trade co-op in India that five ACCESSORIES works with to provide work for the women involved in the co-operative. $5.00 of every handbag sold goes back to these ladies. This eco-friendly handbag with the bright design is red and natural in color. It is hand printed using natural dyes in the solid red, with just a touch of hand embroidery. The handles are kind of padded and strong as I fit several heavy books in it and put it over the handle of our stroller with no ill effects resulting from that action and have done so numerous times now as I use my brown one daily. Both handbags have one inside pocket with a zipper closure. It measures 18″ h x 14″ w and has two snaps on the outside of the bag, so it has the ability to expand with a full purse.

These two Deppa bags may be used as a regular purse, a library bag or even a diaper bag. All of five’s products are eco-friendly and give back to charity.

Here is a photo my brown Deppa bag, well I guess five ACCESSORIES calls it neutral:
neutraldeppa

Visit five ACCESSORIES to see more of their eco-friendly handbags (or some can even double up as diaper bags and beach bags too) www.fiveACCESSORIES.com


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Room to Spare

Posted by html404 on May 31, 2010
in Blog Stuff

Room

What’s life in a city? There’s no room to spare;
Men are crowded in corners and scanted of air;
Too near to be neighbors, too fretful for friends,
Each man jostles each as he seeks his own ends.
There are folk underneath you, and folk overhead,
And the noise of the street comes to vex you in bed;
The jangle of car-bells, the cab-whistle shrill;
All the hum and the stir and the dust of the mill
That is grinding all day and grows louder at night,
Conspire against comfort and banish delight.
O God, for the country! – the singing of birds,
The laughter of children, the lowing of herds,
Green grass and blue heavens, bright water, clean air,
And room enough, room enough, room and to spare.

– Henry Johnstone, in the Outlook

Thanks to Tiffani at http://livintheoffgriddream.blogspot.com/2010_02_01_archive.html


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Bellybars from Nutrabella – Especially for Expectant Mamas

Posted by html404 on May 31, 2010
in All Natural Products, Food and Treats, Pregnancy and Birth

This review is done in cooperation with The Healthy Moms Review Team that I am a part of. I did receive free products, but that in no way affects my review.

BellyBars

NutraBella Bellybars

All I have to say is yummy, yummy, yummy! I tried the Mellow Oat first which is oat graham and yogurt covering half of the bar. I love yogurt and oatmeal. With my iron still low these Belly Bars have 18 mg iron, plus 800mg of Folic Acid and 8 g of Protein.

I also received a Due for Chocolate milkshake. So for all of us chocolate lovers that is a definite bonus! It was very good, made with real milk without any growth hormones.

The bars and shakes are fortified with all the supplemental nutrients required in a normal pregnancy. The more notable nutrients we expectant mamas need the Bellybar has: 800 mg Folic Acid, 8 g Protein and 18 mg of Iron – something I need mroe of! While Bellybar products are made with no GMOs or growth hormones, they are not certified organic, even though they are labeled “All Natural” because ingredients like brown rice syrup, cane juice etc. No high fructose corn syrup and the like.

I actually think it’s ingenious for Nutrabella to cater to expectant mamas. I love bars like this, so even if they are not certified organic I plan to check to see if our local Walgreens carries them. I find bars high in protein give me an extra boost throughout the day.

For more information visit http://www.nutrabella.com/buy/index.html


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Lullabelly

Posted by html404 on May 30, 2010
in Pregnancy and Birth

This review is done in cooperation with The Healthy Moms Review Team that I am a part of. I did receive free products, but that in no way affects my review.

Lullabelly is a wonderful concept. It is “belt” that wraps around an expectant mom’s tummy, but it isn’t just any maternity belt, it contains a little “pouch” or pocket with a built-in, but removable speaker as well as a pair of earphones so that both mama and baby can listen to music together. The belt itself is made of a very soft fabric that comes in pink, blue, green, chocolate brown, or sunshine yellow. Mine is princess pink. It encircles mom with Velcro closures and is machine washable, just remember to remove the speaker, earphones etc. from the pouch before you wash it.

I really love the idea of the Lullabelly, as I have been known to chit-chat with my babies in utero and I love music. However, I did not like the feel of the Lullabelly around my protruding belly and found it hard to wrap around me, even with an extension. 🙁 It didn’t leave me with a warm fuzzy feeling shall we say. I don’t expect that to be every mother’s response, but to be honest it made me huge having to order an extension and to wrap it around myself just didn’t make me feel very good. Once it was on I was usually ok with it.

Once I tried playing a mellow song and then an upbeat one just to see if I could purposely illicit a response and I think baby responded to the upbeat song just a little better. I cannot say whether or not I noticed if my baby responded every time I wore the Lullabelly though. It was hard to take mental notes when I was usually trying to work, use the Lullabelly and take notes. The times I tried hard to pay attention, I did notice that baby was responding to the music. I will say that baby has definitely responded to my other children playing the piano! There was movement from baby once that piano was being played right across the room from where I was seated; whereas prior to the piano being played baby had been quiet.

Thank you to Lullabelly and to Happy and Healthy Mom for the opportunity!

Resources:

http://www.lullabelly.com/benefits.html


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Are Genetically Modified Foods Safe?

Posted by html404 on May 29, 2010
in Health and Nutrition

I realize that this is mostly a product review blog, however, health and nutrition are very important to our family too, even though we feel we still have a long way to go before we “arrive” in the area of eating and exercising – Thankfully we have our garden this year for exercise and nutrition!

Dr. Mercola often has information usually not shared by the mainstream media or backed by the bigwig corporations, like Monsanto. Below is a recent interview he did with Dr. Jeffery Smith, GMO expert and author of Seeds of Deception:

Read the full article related to the above interview between Dr. Mercola and Dr. Jeffery Smith:

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/05/29/jeffrey-smith-interview-specter-rebuttal.aspx


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Educational Kids Toys

Posted by html404 on May 28, 2010
in Education

This is a sponsored post.

November-2009-300x225

We have many educational toys in our home, as most homeschooling families do. But educational toys are not just a normal occurrence in the homes of homeschoolers, many parents desire their children’s toys to have a multi-purpose.

So what educational kids toys can you find in our home?

Games

From Scrabble to Monopoly and quite a few in between. We also have a Math Facts game, memory card games, and many other card games that assist children in learning their numbers, as well as how to count and add.

Puzzles

Puzzles have always been enjoyable kids toys at our house. We have two or three large floor puzzles that are about jungle animals, bug and pond life, plus at least three or four different geography puzzles that all of our older children still enjoy doing on their own or with their younger siblings.

Then there are all the educational shapes, colors, numbers, alphabet, left hand, right hand wooden puzzles that we have for preschoolers and early elementary aged children. There are many different ones that I am probably forgetting we own.

Educational Toys

I think most of our educational toys are more for younger ages. Like our wooden clock and blocks, as well as shape sorter. We even have pull toy turtle that opens via its shell and fits three little baby turtles inside, all different sizes and colors to teach not only colors but big, bigger, biggest, etc.

Historical paper dolls can be very educational for younger girls, especially when reading a book series on a particular character or if you purchase the Dover brand, I know you get an overview of the character and/or time setting.

Dominos, jump rope, and probably many more that I am forgetting may be of interest to older children.

Do you have any favorite educational toys that you’d like us to know about? Let us know!


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