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S2H and Special 15% Off at Switch2Health

Posted by html404 on July 31, 2012
in Health, Health and Nutrition

A couple of years ago we received a S2H for review and we never got the review up because the children lost it. Then when we moved last August we found it while packing and I found the contact to let them know what happened and apologized. Well, FAIL again because I didn’t get the review up and again I have no idea where the S2H is. Of course, it has been one of those odd things that remains at the back of my mind and I was reminded of it again when I got the email below from them.

So finally, I am just going to get the review up and give them the extra feature of their 15% off sale. Maybe it’s weird to be admitting publicly to such a huge failure, but I am just being honest here. I am only human and sometimes I do drop the ball on things like this. Just to let any brands, PR reps and companies reading know, I am using a calendar and reminder system now, so things have improved around here. I also have contributors who help me!

Our Review of the S2H Replay

The S2H Replay is a wrist band that calculates your physical activity. Our children loved this little gadget. They loved seeing how active they were and kind of fought over whose turn it was to use it. I actually think this would be a great little gift to motivate them to stay active. I also think that with a little friendly competition between siblings – nothing like egging each other on – that this could turn out to be a real tool towards better health in our family. I can see it all now and am tucking this little idea away as a Christmas gift idea, especially for the older children.

As you can tell, the S2H Replay is very user friendly, especially since our children were the main users. The only aspect of the gadget and technology we did not make use of was the online part, but I can understand how useful having all that info in one place would be. At the time, I didn’t quite get it or want my children’s info stored online and that hindered me from trying out that part, plus I think we lost the code or something we needed to access the online information. Sigh.

Of course now they have apps and a Step Pedometer available. Check out their special below.

Special 15% Off at Switch2Health Email Announcement

The S2H STEP and S2H REPLAY reward you for exercising- simply wear them, be active, get Rewards!

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.

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Family Movie Night and Snacks #Snacks4WimpyKid #CBias

Posted by html404 on July 31, 2012
in Family Stuff, Food and Treats, Fun Stuff, Movies, Uncategorized

Our family really enjoys watching movies. We enjoy a wide variety of movies from super heros to Ann of Green Gables. It has been a while since our whole family viewed a movie in the theater; probably a couple of years ago when we went to see the Tooth Fairy at the Wednesday Morning Movie Series – when they offer movies for $1! It’s a pretty cheap outing for our family. The guys in our family saw Courageous last year. However, we’ve seen no movies release in recent months. It would be kind of fun to see the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid, which is coming out in a few days. My older daughters and I have watched one of the others and laughed and laughed. I have sort of banned my boys from seeing the whole movie due to the rudeness etc. they seem to pick up on so easily – they come out with enough potty talk all on their own! They have seen clips of DOAWK though and loved it, of course.

Here’s what some of our family might look like in the DOAWK series:

Artwork compliments of our children

When we watch movies at home, our preferred movie snack is popcorn. We make it the old-fashioned way in a pot on the stove. However, when we go out I tend to make them eat something before we go out. Yes, to save money because snacks at the theater are pricey for ten people! I usually like them to eat healthy snacks, like fruit or something and Del Monte Fruit Cups are perfect for traveling or eating at home before going out. They are easy to offer as a healthy dessert after a meal too. There are two different kinds of fruit cups. One is in the produce section and the other is in the canned fruit aisle. We chose the one in the produce aisle as the ingredients seemed healthier and there was no added sugar. Apparently, these are different than the Fruit Cups as they are called Fruit Naturals, which I didn’t know until now. Oops. We have tried the Fruit Cups, just in May as a matter of fact, I just prefer snacks without added sugar or sugar substitutes, like artificial flavors, which I did not see on Walmart’s shelves in the Fruit Cups section, unless I missed some labels as I had already put the Fruit Naturals in my cart.

Robert’s aunt just sent us some money telling us that she’d like to see us use it for something fun and a Del Monte DOAWK family night would be perfect. That or go-carting and mini golfing. 😉 Maybe we’ll plan on doing all three to help celebrate the winding down of summer. August may turn out to be a busy, but highly entertaining month for us!

If you are planning on going to the opening of the new A Diary of A Wimpy Kid consider tweeting about it or Delmonte fruit cups as healthy snacks and please remember to use the hashtag #Snacks4WimpyKid and @DelMonteFoods

Watch Del Monte’s Facebook page for an upcoming Diary of A Wimpy Kid’s contest and be sure to enter too!

Do you have family movie night? What’s the last movie your family saw together? What snacks do you usually eat?

“This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. All opinions are my own.”

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18 Years of Marital Bliss (or Not!?) ;)

Posted by html404 on July 30, 2012
in Family Stuff

This summer my husband and I are celebrating 18 years of marital bliss, or not…depends on the year! 😉 No marriage is ever completely easy, it is what you make of it. A few months ago I was asked what our secret was to our advancing marriage and to be honest I was speechless as I really didn’t know how to answer. So as part of our 2012 anniversary post, I thought I’d try to come up with some things that seem to have worked in our favor and hopefully will give us another 18+ years together:

The Grace of God. But for the grace of God, I don’t think any of us can have a successful relationship.

Commitment. When we vowed to love, honor and cherish each other, we made a commitment for life. We are committed to staying together – being a one woman man and a one man woman. During the tougher seasons of marriage, this means sometimes committing to staying together on a daily basis. I think this is something missing in today’s culture: lack of commitment. Today when the going gets tough, the tough runs away or gives up.

Similar Outlook on Life. My husband and I share a similar outlook on life. We share the same faith. We aren’t two different people moving in two different directions, we are one moving in the same direction.

Understanding Personalities and Gifts. While we share similar goals in life, we are two very different people. I am rather intense and focused, my husband is very laid back and easy going. I am gifted, as many women are, in multitasking and administratively. My husband is analytical, logical and mathematically inclined. We understand those differences and don’t focus on them but realize that those differences compliment each other making us a better team. What I am weak in, he’s strong in and visa versa.

Parenting Styles are the Same. We rarely disagree on how the other parents and we back each other up when one makes a decision or appeals to the one in private.

Same Spending/Saving Habits. Money is a huge issue for some couples, but for us we have always been on the same page. Don’t ask me why that is, but I think it part of our “bliss” equation.

We Make Decisions Together. It’s always been my thought that if I don’t want my husband making major decisions without me, then I don’t make major decisions without him. It’s part of mutually respecting the other person and communicating with each other. A marriage is a partnership, it’s team work so we make decisions together. Even if a decision is made without consulting the other, we tell each other right away about that decision. However, all major decisions are usually talked about in advance together.

You may have noticed that love is not on the list. That’s because love plays such a small factor in a long lasting marriage. Love is summed up in all of the above. Love is also a feeling that can come and go. Love also matures as the years go by. “I love you” when we first said it to each other is not the same thing after 18 years of marriage. It’s deeper and more committed than it was in young love.

I’d have to say I am the more critical one of our marriage than my husband and know so many areas we still need to work on. However, I also realize that compared to the many stories I read and hear about, our marriage is a really good one. It takes a lot of work and even more work when you throw in eight children! One thing that makes me satisfied is hearing our teen daughters say that they want a marriage like ours. It also brings tears to my eyes to realize that sometimes I don’t see what they are seeing.

I am very grateful for the 18 years of marital bliss God has blessed us with and pray for many more to come.

What do you think makes your marriage a lasting one?

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Forward Facing Vs Rear Facing Car Seats

Posted by html404 on July 25, 2012
in Baby Products, Safety

Safety is important to parents. Car seat safety for children has become more than just a parent’s concern, as laws and regulations have been put in place to keep children in a booster seat until they are 8 years old here in Illinois. The American Academy of Pediatrics (Source: Online Journal of American Academy of Pediatrics) recommends rear facing for children up to age 2, whereas it use to be age 1. They even recommend children 13 and under ride in the back seat of the car – mostly because of airbags.

I am not refuting safety, but sometimes I think things can get a little too regulated. I mean my 12 year old is taller than my 13 year old so we allow her to ride in the front seat. I just think this should be a common sense decision but because of lack of common sense other parents get more regulations. I realize that there are probably more cars on the road than ever and paramedics, doctors, nurses and emergency rooms are witnessing an increase of fatalities and injured children. But I don’t think it always depends on just the type of car seat used, the driving skills and attentiveness of the drivers all need to be factored into the equation too.

Statistics. According to Crashtest.Com, frontal and frontal offset crashes combine for about 72% of severe crashes. Side impacts are about 24%. Rear and rear offset crashes only account for about 4%. The NHTSA FARS database shows similar numbers. The odds of being in a frontal crash with a fatality or very serious injury are many times greater than being in a severe rear-end crash. Rear-enders are more common at lower speeds, though most injuries in these crashes are not as severe – typically, whiplash injuries to adults, especially passengers lacking proper head restraint. ~ Car-Safety.org

In countries like Sweden, children are often kept rear-facing much longer, even to 3 or 4 years old. Auto related injury and death rates for rear-facing children in Sweden are near zero because of this. ~ Car-Safety.org

Unlike Sweden, the UK doesn’t even have access to to much rear facing car seats information. They are actually campaigning for more education in regards to this very topic.

We have always used a rear facing car seat until our little ones have been a year or so old. It depended upon their size and weight. As I have already stated, in recent years it’s been recommended and even established that rear facing car seats are much safer for children. Based on what you know and have read, what kind of car seat do you use for your children – rear facing or forward facing and for what ages?

This post is sponsored by Discover Media.

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All I want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth

Posted by html404 on July 25, 2012
in Contests, Family Stuff, Wordless Wednesday

I wanted to capture the moment when my youngest daughter lost her second tooth. When I asked her to smile she gave me this goofy smile exaggerating her toothless grin.

I have been singing,
“All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth, my two front teeth” and that’s all I can remember of that song!

Without Googling it, who can tell me the next line? The first person to answer correctly without cheating will win a prize! Honor system here, it’s not going to be some flimsy whimsy prize, ok?

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U by Kotex Beginning Period Discussions

Posted by html404 on July 24, 2012
in Family Stuff, Parenting, Uncategorized

The Talk. The Birds and the Bees. Period. Sex. The Passage of Becoming a Woman. Menstrual Cycle. Puberty. Whatever name you have dubbed it, if you have daughters, discussing a woman’s cycle is inevitable. My husband and I basically have three teen daughters (it will be official next year when our third daughter turns 13) in the house. I talked a bit about our beginning period discussions with my daughters here. As much as I hate to admit it, I am an older mom now in my 40’s- don’t feel like it though! 😉 – and know I have moms in their 20’s reading. I am hoping this post will be provide insight or ideas or maybe encouragement to you, especially if your own mother did not model how to go about having period discussions. A lot of moms feel inadequate, don’t we all at some point?

Due to my own mom’s lack of initiative in this area, I actually chose to be quite open and honest with my own children about our bodily functions and God’s purpose for them. From the time my oldest was old enough to know what my maxi pads were, she knew what they were for and where to get them for me if I happen to start and not have any in the bathroom.

I have always waited for my children to ask questions or for the topic of sex, man/woman relationships or periods to come up naturally, unless the opportunity arose that I could bring it up in a natural way. When these issues were discussed, I gave them enough information for their age, the time frame we had and topic of conversation. I found if I talked too much I lost my older daughter, if she asked more questions after a brief response then I tried to answer with more information. For the longest time with one specific question I responded with, “I know you want to know the answer to that but mommy just isn’t ready yet to tell you, but I will when you are older.” That day eventually came and it was as natural as a tea party. Seriously. We were sitting on our bed and it came up and I knew she was ready, I was ready and I think even her sister was there and I told them. There was no awkwardness, not until after the fact when I worried that I might not have explained it as best as I could.

The topics we discussed depended on the girls’ questions and how our conversation evolved. We would cover how much bleeding would happen, what they were to do if they happened to start away from home, where we would keep our supplies, how long a period lasted and probably more I can’t think of.

I actually did give them Maidens by Design to look over, with the intentions of us all doing it together, but we never did. If they had questions, they’d ask after reading it on their own. Maidens by Design is a curriculum for mothers and daughters to work through together or host a class for a group of friends. Just a fun twist on learning about something important in a girl’s life and celebrating becoming a woman. So much of being a woman is not celebrated anymore, especially compared to some countries.

As much as having a period is an inconvenience, there is a greater purpose for it and I want my daughters to recognize that and embrace it rather than grumble and complain about it all the time. This is something I tried to emphasize when having these beginning period discussions.

U by Kotex Tween is a great resource with a Q & A section to help inspire you on how to have those beginning period discussions. They also offer pads that are designed just for tweens. For more information, please visit U by Kotex Tween on Facebook, Twitter and Hello Period for tweens.

“I wrote this review while participating in a Brand Ambassador Campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of U by Kotex Tween and received products to facilitate my post and a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.”

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Old New Car

Posted by html404 on July 23, 2012
in Family Stuff

It’s been a long time since I mentioned anything (fear of judgement) about our car situation. We have been blessed to use my mil’s car since last October when I got side swiped in our 15-passenger van, which insurance wrote off, and my husband decided our mini van was no longer worth fixing. We have gone nowhere as a complete family since October. Amazing really. But do you know what? None of our children have complained. The only thing we really missed is attending church together. That’s not to say no one has been anywhere, we have been creative in taking different children out on errands etc. I am very proud of our children for being so content during this season of our lives.

My mil has been a gem. She usually is anyways. She’s had several health issues preventing her from driving, but got a clean bill of health this past spring because of this we have been anxious to give her car back. She’s only asked to drive once and went back to having my husband drive her on errands, which is fine, he’s happy to do that.

We have just put pressure on ourselves to not take advantage of her benevolence any longer, so we’ve been car hunting in full force. We have been very hesitant to take on a car payment. Never had a car payment in our 18 years of marriage, but felt it was the only way we could do it. We had just found two suburbans on Friday, which my husband stopped to look at yesterday since the car dealer was near our old town.

BUT…a friend from our old church called yesterday. He offered to give us their old 15-passenger van, 11 really since one seat is missing. Wow! Mr. G, a husband and father of 12 – all girls but 1 – and is a contractor with his own business. One of his clients has him doing work in exchange for a work truck. Therefore Mr. G and his family want to GIVE us their old van. An old new car! I never thought God would provide in this way for us. We are in awe that we waited for so long, hesitant to take on a car payment and blown away that we will now have a family vehicle by next weekend. Just a couple things have to be done, the AC needs a new hose, so my husband is going to look at a junk yard and see if he can fix that himself. He’s pretty savvy that way, and if he can’t do it, will give it up to let someone else do the work. We may attend church as a family for the first time in 9 months!

We may still look for a smaller more economical car for my husband to drive to and from work, as we’ve got spoiled with his mom’s car being so good on gas, but we’ll see what happens.

The saying “Good things come to those who wait.” – author unknown – is so true.

So tell me, could you live 9 months without a family vehicle?

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My Long Lost Blackberry Smart Phone, Sniff & $40 Amazon Giveaway

Posted by html404 on July 21, 2012
in Giveaways, Techie Stuff, Technology/Electronics, Uncategorized

Some of you may remember the story of my long lost Blackberry smart phone (if not read about it here and here) but I’ll happily give you a brief synopsis of the story.

I loved my Blackberry. It was a cool fuschia color and I loved how fast I was getting at typing on the tiny keyboard – at least it was a keyboard, unlike my iPhone’s. But I digress. While I found certain aspects of my Blackberry mysterious to use, I was getting the hang of it and just as that was happening, the thing dies on me. Too bad objects can’t love me back and appreciate my love for them – by not breaking. Alas, they don’t and they do break.

I lost all my contacts and was unable to retrieve them. Thankfully most of the important ones were in my email files or in the hard copy address book. But what I could not retrieve are my photos. 🙁 I was very disappointed. As you know photos have a lot of sentimental value in the memories they create and preserve. Another sore spot was fact I was never able to figure out how to back up my Blackberry.

The thing is the phone guys were unable to fix my phone due to not having the battery in stock. Whether that was a ploy to get me to upgrade I have no idea, but I needed my phone so I opted to upgrade. After all, you can live without their smart phone these days? I know I’d miss mine.

Content and/or other value provided by our partner, Asurion.

Would you like to save yourself the trouble of all I went through and have peace of mind with the content on your smart phone?

Check with your cell phone provider for the Asurion protection package. Asurion offers smart phone/technology insurance. It protects your data, privacy, provides technical assistance and service coverage to replace your phone. Most companies do offer this when you first purchase your cell phone so be sure to ask and you’ll save yourself a lot of trouble and heartache of losing precious photos and data.

Now you have a chance to win a $40 Amazon gift code! Just see the details below.

$40 Amazon Gift Code Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Have fun and good luck!

Faith and Family Review is being compensated an Amazon.com gift card in exchange for writing this post. All thoughts and opinions are our own.

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Back to School Supplies #BagItForward #CBias @Elmers @Walmart

Posted by html404 on July 19, 2012
in Education, Giving Back/Charity, Uncategorized

We are only a month into summer but school will soon be starting back up again as back to school sales indicate. Most show their teachers appreciate at the end of the school year. Some may not even show their appreciate at all! For shame! But if you forgot to do it a month or two ago, I am going to share a way you can easily do for this back to school session.

As you know, we homeschool, and just like any other family purchasing school supplies is a little like Christmas around here. New glue sticks, new markers, new crayons, new pens and pencil and erasers you can actually find, are a source of rejoicing in our home. Seriously.

The other night my two older daughters and I went out to Walmart at 11:30pm to shop for quality school supplies at low prices for Elmer’s simple service project, which is a campaign supporting teachers by offering a donation of buy 2 school supply items and Bag It Forward to the teacher of your choice. My daughters were tickled to be out a midnight with mom shopping and we had fun.

To help with our shopping experience, I downloaded Elmer’s 1st Day App, which is also available at the school supply list holder. I simply went to the website clicked download and it was quickly downloaded to my iPhone. It is an app to help parents and children to capture the memories of the first day of school. It is available for a free download here. Using the 1st Day App will actually help drive donations to the Kids in Need Foundation which provides funding to teachers and ultimately kids.

We shopped for notebooks, pens, pencils, erasers, more notebooks, glue, glue sticks and more pens and pencils.

Our donation gift is not wrapped in pretty paper or anything because our teacher is very practical and did not want wrapping paper or a gift bag wasted when the school supplies were just going on shelves.

This is going to be very weird and out of the norm for me in the giving back projects I usually participate in. My daughter was suppose to write this for me but she slept in! But here’s it is…we chose me as the teacher.

I admit my family doesn’t take time to officially show their appreciation at specific times of the year for all I do, other than Mother’s Day and my Birthday. However, there are little ways all throughout the year they thank me – my husband surprises me with big and little gifts when I least expect it or my oldest daughter will say she’s so thankful she’s homeschooled and will share that gratitude with me. There’s never been a time when we’ve taken our children on a field trip or another place that our children haven’t thanked us. So this simple service project was a way for us to get a jump start in purchasing school supplies for our eight children, as we go through a lot of school supplies. We are very grateful for this opportunity and privileged we have the option to homeschool.

My children woke up to the bags of school supplies yesterday and cheered, “Mom got school supplies!” And were soon asking for new markers and crayons to color. 😉

I am still deliberating over who we could share a bag of school supplies with, as it just doesn’t feel right that we gave to us! Maybe I can call an elementary school and see if there’s a family in need of school supplies and give back that way.

Be sure to visit Bag It Forward on Pinterest, Elmer’s Facebook and Twitter. The Pinterest board has some very creative ideas!

“I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This content has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and Elmer’s. #BagItForward #CBias #SocialFabric. All opinions are my own.”

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Back to School Savings

Posted by html404 on July 19, 2012
in Thrifty Thursday, Uncategorized

School supplies and back to school clothing costs adds up fast! Start shopping now to beat the rush and use these coupons to increase your back to school savings:

· Get $10 off 2 Jansport backpacks with this Target coupon (click for code, expires 8/4). You can also earn up to 5% cash back.

· For back to school clothes and shoes, save 10% off any order with this Kohl’s coupon (click for code, expires 8/23). You can also earn 4% cash back.

· Save with free shipping on orders of $25+ when you use this Scholastic Store coupon (no code needed when you click the coupon link, expires soon). You can also earn 7% cash back.

· Enjoy free shipping on orders of $50+ when you use this Office Depot coupon (no code needed when you click the coupon link, expires soon). You can also earn up to 7% cash back.

· Get 10% off orders $250+ with this SchoolSuppliesToYou.com coupon (click for code, expires soon).

Note: Cash Back rates can change from one day to the next. These rates were valid 7/13/2012.

BeFrugal.com offers free coupons and Cash Back, currently with an average rate of 7% at 3000+ online stores. For even more savings, sign up for a free account now.

To get the most savings, be sure you activate your account before you click to use the online coupon offers above. This way, you’ll earn Cash Back plus save big from using the coupons above.

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