We celebrate three birthdays this month, can you guess which child chose Elmo birthday cake?
Green and Clean Mom – Get Dirty
It has been a while since I posted anything garden related so when I came across Green and Clean Mom last week, I joined her ning website and discovered her Get Dirty group, which is exciting because then I can talk gardening and farming without anyone getting sick of me (hopefully!)
www.greenandcleanmom.org
Community where the Get Dirty Group is: http://greenandcleanmom.ning.com/group/getdirty?xg_source=activity
The Stupid Gene
Ok, I just want to clarify that this post is not bashing the male gender. As a matter of fact this blog title comes from my husband because he is the one who came up with it. So as I am sitting here holding go-go boy (our six month old), who just wants to chomp on anything, but mostly our fingers, unmentionable parts (of me!) and my laptop because his teeth are coming in. Then my two, almost three year old, is tormenting his sister by kicking her in the behind, pulling off the swim cap she is wearing (to keep her bangs, that we are trying to grow out, out of her eyes) and all I can think of is The Stupid Gene. I get after my two year old and he gets mad at me because I am getting after him?! Say what? All I can think of is The Stupid Gene.
The Stupid Gene is something my husband says boys have. He admits he has it too, but it is especially in little boys. They just do the most ridiculous things. Things that I should be able to laugh about most times, but more often than not their antics drive me to distraction. If you ask them why they have done something they can never answer. So when we find food spatters on the ceiling, or dirt piles beneath our hutch, they never fess up to it. But let me share a little secret, before we had boys there was nothing on our ceilings and there was definitely nothing beneath our furniture or hutches. Mostly because our girls were not like that, plus back then I was doing most of the cleaning. Now that there are ten of us, the work gets spread around a little more each year. However, it’s very hard to teach our boys how to do their chores (sweeping the dining room, putting dishes away, cleaning their room and more recently my husband is teaching our nine year old to do the boys laundry, so they are responsible for having clean clothes and not blame anyone else if they don’t because they were putting ALL their clothes in the dirty laundry pile. Yes, clean and dirty clothes end up in the dirty pile because they are still learning to put their clean clothes away too.)
Oh and my daughter just came in crying because one of my older boys was swinging a stick and bonked her on the side of the head. Ouch! Again The Stupid Gene reigns, he’s been told not to swing sticks, arrows or anything else for that matter around other people. Why don’t they remember?
Oh and my two year old likes to do somersaults on our bed over and over again regardless of where he lands. On me, on the baby, on the floor…actually he hasn’t hit the floor due to somersaults…yet. That really isn’t The Stupid Gene though, it is just waaaay too much energy bursting out in an odd way. I have another boy who jumps up and down. Yep, without watching so if we are all sprawled on our bed watching a movie, he jumps on us too. Our oldest boy does not really seem to struggle with an excessive amount of energy. He is just a big tease. Wonder what go-go boy will do, he’s already moving. He even squirms while he nurses…I hurt thinking about being treated like a rubber band….ouchie-pachowchie.
We may be in trouble. Help save us from The Stupid Gene!
Unfortunately my husband was not available to provide further inspiration or consultation during the writing or editing of this post. However, I may be appealing to him for ideas so that I can feature a regular Stupid Gene post.
Movie Review Monday: The Jensen Project
We recently watched The Jensen Project a movie made by Walmert and PG and we really enjoyed it!
The Jensen project is a movie about a family who doesn’t communicate, has family issues, and on top of that has a teenage son who breaks all the rules. But a top secret project is threatened Claire and Matt Thompson have to go back to the work that they left years ago. Will Matt, Claire, Justin (15), and the rest of the Jensen team save the day before a evil man destroys this top secret project and countless lives?????
This movie is very family friendly. Our children enjoyed it alot and even the little ones didn’t say they where scared even though there was some intense scenes in it. The movie was also funny in parts. But, we really enjoyed watching the Thompson family interact and learn to work together as a team.
We highly reccomend The Jensen Project as yet another great movie produced by Walmart!
Watch the trailer below:
Go to familymovienight.com for more information.
Monday Motivation: Blog Hop
It has been a l-o-o-o-o-n-g time since I have written a Motivation Monday post, so since my daughter suggested writing them again, I thought I would give it a go since I found myself with some spare time….what?! Did I say that? Yeah, I guess I did. Spare time around here just means that I do not have any pressing client work or homeschooling to do and am sadly neglecting my housework. Ha! 😉
Monday Motivation was just easy to let go, even though I know many of you visited more on Mondays than any other day.
Let me share with you again that I feel very vulnerable sharing too much of my personal life. I am honored that so many of you visit on Mondays, but it is hard for me to be fully transparent anymore. Product reviews are fun. They are safe. For me anyway.
Another thing is, I have yet to discover my own unique style of blogging. I have no idea why people come to read what I write. Personally, I do not find my own life very exciting or that stands out above any others. So what that I have eight children, so what that I homeschool and work from home. There are lots of blogs out there that are waaaay more interesting and fun to read. Believe me, I have read some of them and I love it when I have time to actually blog hop because I get so many laughs!
So if you bear with me and allow me to get to know YOU, then maybe I will get a feel for who you are and that will help me know whether or not YOU are safe to share with.
This Monday Motivation is for all of us. You may not think I have time, but I really love reading comments. So, let’s be motivated to get to know each other by visiting each other’s blog. If you leave a comment this week with your blog link, I will make the effort to return the favor. Starting today.
Simply To Impress
Faith and Family Reviews received the following samples in exchange for writing a review. While we consider it a privilege to receive free products to review, our reviews are our honest opinion and thoughts of the product.
Looking for a different way to announce the coming of your new baby? Or perhaps birthday invitations or party announcements? Simply to Impress has a wide variety of quality customizable cards for every occasion.
The paper stock used is sturdy card stock with different textures. The designs are fun and catchy. I would be careful of the photo used because just a couple seem to have a blurry look to them.
Prices vary depending on the paper you choose. The options are photo-style paper, which is cheaper and double-sided premium card stock, which is more expensive. Envelopes are included or may be pre-ordered separately. Shipping is within 2-3 business days.
Here are a few of the samples that I received. I love the first one and wish I had known about it when baby go-go (no not the doll, but my six month old who is on the go, he was formerly known as, Sir Eats Alot, which he still does 🙂 )
Doesn’t it make you want to have a baby? 😉 Not quite, huh? Gotta love the baby photos though.
There is a sale on just until tomorrow for 20% off all orders.
A Lady in the Mist – A Revell Blog Tour
Faith and Family Reviews received the following product in exchange for writing a review. While we consider it a privilege to receive free products to review, our reviews are our honest opinion and thoughts of the product.

I have been interested in birth since my first child was born. My interest in midwifery and home birth probably began at about the same time. However, the journey took several years to lead to my husband and I to experience our first home birth, and that was after having five children in the hospital and three miscarriages. So when the announcement of another Revell blog tour arrived, Lady in the Mist by Laurie Alice Eakes, I was definitely interested. As the first book in The Midwives series, this historical novel explores themes of identity, misperception and love’s discovery.
I really liked Lady in the Mist, but it was more about Tabitha, the midwife, her losses, relationship with God and her love life. Not about birth and midwifery, per se. The book did deal with the lifestyle of a midwife, how the community in that time period viewed a midwife (early 1800s) and a bit of history of Tabitha Eckles’ family with its legacy of women serving as midwives.
What I took most from the book was Tabitha’s struggle with God. After the losses she faced, she turned her back on God and stopped attending church. She was deeply hurt and unsure of how to go on with her life other than serving as a midwife. Not only did Tabitha struggle with her relationship with God but so did two other characters. Each of them were on their way back to Him, but it greatly depended upon the people, the circumstances of their lives and how each of them responded to the way God was dealing with them individually; that determined what role God ended up playing in their lives.
Lady in the Mist is filled with understanding of the human heart, intrigue and romance at a time in history when war was nearly imminent each day of these characters’ lives.
“Available February 2011 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.”
Friday Giveaway Linky
St. Patties Day Giveaway over at Arms of a Sister – Win $110 CASH!
Ok, I just want you to know right off that I am blogging about this giveaway so I can gain more entries myself! But hey, feel free to enter too! Who wouldn’t want an extra $110 in their pocket? We all have bills to pay, right? (Don’t forget to enter our current giveaways too!)
Arms of a Sister is hosting a giveaway that she and ten other bloggers to offer a CASH giveaway. How “green” is that? 😉 Just had to bring green in for the money aspect and St. Patrick’s Day too.
So head on over and enter to win $110 for you and your family!
FFR Giveaway-BPA-Free Beginning Solids Kit Review and Giveaway
Congratulations to Chelle! You won this giveaway! Winner chosen by Random.org. Thanks to all who entered and to Softlanding for sponsoring this great giveaway!!!

Faith and Family Reviews received the following product in exchange for writing a review. While we consider it a privilege to receive free products to review, our reviews are our honest opinion and thoughts of the product.
We were sent a BPA Free Beginning Solids Kit by Soft Landing and here is what it contains:
# One small DexBaby Dura-bib; colors & patterns vary
# Two Nuby Nibblers
# Set of three Sassy Feeding Bowls with lids and super grip base
# One Play and Learn Training/Teething Spoon (the spoon will not be packaged since they come in a 2pk and we are opening the package for the sampler)
We really like this kit. The kit contains everything you need to feed your baby (but the food!). The bib gives your babies clothing complete coverage from food spills, so that is really nice. It also cleans up nicely with a good scrub or toss in the washer. The Nuby Nibblers will let your baby eat food without choking on it, which I love! The Sassy Feeding Bowls lids snap shut and they come in 3 different sizes. The feeding bowls also come with a super grip base that grips to your table so your baby can’t knock it off. The Training/Teething spoon is a multipurpose spoon that can be used for feeding your baby, but my 6 month old has been using the spoon as a teething ring too and it works great.
I love that this kit is Eco-Friendly and BPA free! And all in all I think it’s wonderful kit and I highly recommend it! We really couldn’t find much wrong with it except the Nuby Nibblers are messy and a nuisance to clean.
Enter to win a BPA Beginning Solids Kit! Estimated value $25.00
Mandatory Entry: Tell me what else you would like from Soft Landing.
Extra Entries (Please be sure and leave a comment and link for extra entries):
1 Entry:Follow Faith and Family Reviews On Twitter
1 Entry:Follow Soft Landing on Twitter.
1 Entry:Like/Friend Faith and Family Reviews on Facebook.
1 Entry: Like Soft Landing on Facebook. And leave a comment saying- Faith and Family Reviews sent me.
2 Entries: Follow Faith and Family Reviews on Google Friend Connect (on the our right side bar).
2 Entries: Tweet about this giveaway, but only one tweet per day please. Include your tweet url with your comment. You may write your own tweet or use this one:
Giveaway: Enter to win a beginning solids kit! http://bit.ly/hexXEI @faithfamilyrevw! Please share! Thx!
5 Entries: Blog about this giveaway and link back this post.
1 Entry: for every comment you leave anywhere else on this blog, but please leave a link with your comment!
1 Entry: For every comment you leave on Soft Landing’s blog.
Details:
This giveaway will run from February 18th- March 4th, 2011 at midnight CST. The winner will be chosen through Random.org. Soft Landing will send one winner their BPA-Free Beginning Solids Kit. ($25 value) Winner will be contacted via email on or before March 10th and will be asked for their contact and other pertinent info. Winners will have 48 hours to send me their e-mail at [ffr] [giveaways] [at] [gmail] [dot] [com] (without spaces and parenthesis). Please note: This giveaway is offered internationally.
Thanks and have fun!



























