Faith and Family Reviews - Product reviews you can trust!

Fruit Sparx Candy Review

Posted by Brande on October 7, 2013
in All Natural Products, Food and Treats, Fun Stuff, Kids Stuff, Organic, Products for Dad, Products for Mom, Reviews, Seasonal Stuff, Uncategorized

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.

Halloween is right around the corner and my daughter is already excited about all the candy. Sparx has a wonderful product! Recommended by dentist & hygienist, it is 100% Xylitol and tooth friendly! These all natural sugar free candies are also gluten free. They come in citrus, berry, & fruit flavors.

My first question was what is Xylitol? Direct from the Xlear.com site – here is the answer.

“Xylitol is a natural sweetener derived from natural sources. It is also produced in the human body as a by-product of a normal metabolism. Our xylitol is of the highest quality possible. It is a pharmaceutical grade, meaning it must be more that 99.95% pure, and is made from non-GMO (non-genetically modified organism) corn fibers. It does not contain any of the corn grain and it is tested to ensure that no corn allergens, mycotoxins, or corn proteins of any type are in the product.”

Fruit Sparx Candy Review

Sparx candies are tiny dot like goodies; they are on the hard side. I would recommend these for your older kids, just because you don’t want your younger kids swallowing a bunch of them at a time. My daughter and I shared a package and I really enjoyed them, she kind of wished they weren’t as hard to chew. You can get a great Halloween bag with all the flavors or order you favorite flavor directly from Xlear.com. They sell them in tubes and are only 1.49 each!

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The Long Awakening

Posted by html404 on October 5, 2013
in Books, Encouragement for Moms, Family Stuff, Gift Ideas, Pregnancy and Birth, Products for Mom, Reviews, Uncategorized

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.

The Long Awakening by Lindsey O’Connor is a memoir dedicated to Lindsey’s youngest daughter, Caroline Aileen. This book is a story of Lindsey’s 47-day coma just after giving birth to Caroline, her journey of her recovery, and that of her family’s.

I have 2-3 pages of little bits from the book that touched my heart. After three pages I stopped because I would have an incredibly long review if I wrote about all of my notes. For the sake of this review, I will just touch on a few more important ones.

Let me start by saying I really enjoyed The Long Awakening and found myself reading faster to see what how Lindsey’s story ended.

First, I am always impressed when a family rallies around one another and does what needs to be done through difficult circumstances, such as the O’Connor’s 47+ day tragedy. For example, Lindsey’s oldest daughter postponed college in order to stay at home to take care of her baby sister. This is something no parent wants to force on their oldest child, but the fact that Jacquelyn decided on her own her baby sister needed to be in their family home and not “farmed” out to another home to be cared for showed her love, devotion and sacrifice to do what was in the best interest of not only Caroline, but the whole family.

Jacquelyn’s intuition about her sister Allison was amazing too. I loved reading about how she got her little sister to open up and showed her it was ok to cry, to grieve over what had happened to their mom. The O’Connor’s must have been so proud of her.

Secondly, Lindsey’s family had so much support, love and help that it was a sweet testimony to one nurse in particular, who said, “she’d never seen people come around a family like that.” They had a church that put love into action – for the long haul.

I’ve been taken to emergency surgery during a couple of my miscarriages, but I never uttered the words Lindsey did when she was being wheeled away:

“Please take care of me. I have five children now.”

Weird, but I felt guilty. Granted her situation was completely different but still. It’s amazing what another woman’s story can illicit from my own soul.

I could not have been as calm as Lindsey was when she found out she had an emergency hysterectomy. Listen to what her response was:

“Why does this matter? Uterus in, uterus out. A little rain. Get out the umbrella. I had no use for that body part anymore.”

Not having been in her situation, I can only imagine how I would have responded. I guess this was the least of her concerns at the time. More important matters had her attention, such as, communicating, moving, holding and bonding with her baby, getting her life back.

I could go on for another 500 words, but the last thing I wanted to share had a profound affect on me was when Lindsey spent two hours tapping a spoon against her bedside table only to be ignored. The reason they found out later was because this was a physical quality brain damaged people exhibited. Lindsey’s words were:

“I lay brain damaged and didn’t warrant a response.”

That made me so very sad. The hospital staff heard her but ignored her. Thank God she had her husband advocating for her!

I highly recommend this book. It will make you cry, but Lindsey’s story is a must read. Talk about triumphing over huge hurdles!

“Available October 2013 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.”

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Dino Dan Review and Giveaway

Posted by Professor on October 4, 2013
in Animals, DVDs & CDs, Fun Stuff, Giveaways, Kids Stuff, Reviews, Uncategorized

Dino Dan ~ Dino DVD 4 Pack

We are pleased to review another WONDERFUL children’s DVD ~ DINO DAN!

DVD synopsis: Follow the adventures of paleontologist-in-training Dan Henderson as he imagines dinosaurs into the real world! Join Dan as he plays a game of chase with his prehistoric pals, races against a T-Rex, and time travels back to the prehistoric era.

Dan uses the scientific method to gather clues and solve mysteries. Enjoy over 4 hours of dino-rific fun!

Dino Pack Includes: 4 DVDs of action packed adventures, including a brand new, never before seen DVD!

DVDs feature these Dinosaurs:

Ø Brachiosaurus

Ø Compsognathus

Ø Edmontosaurus

Ø Tyrannosaurus Rex

Ø Quetzalcataus

Ø and more!

Our Review:

ALL of my children loved the DINO DAN DVD’s… yes all of them! There was a little something for everyone (including me) to enjoy in this series! I have a five year old daughter, a 7 year old son, and a 9 year old daughter…and yes even the girls LOVED DINO DAN! The program is crafted to give information for all levels of learners as Dan goes on his adventures. This was important to us because we could watch the series as a family!

As a mom I loved that all of my children loved the program. I also loved the historical aspects and scientific qualities of the DVD…my children were learning while having fun watching DINO DAN…definitely an added plus!

Do not miss out on DINO DAN!

You can also get a FREE Dino Dan App at DINODAN.com/DVD

Also… for additional Dino Dan fun Visit Dinodan.com for fun interactive activities!

Find out more about available Dino Dan DVD’s at http://www.ncircleentertainment.com/dino-dan/b136078

DVD is scheduled for release on November 5^th, 2013

Dino Dan DVD Giveaway

Enter to win your own Dino Dan DVDs!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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CordaRoy’s Beanbag Bed Review

Posted by html404 on October 3, 2013
in Bedding, Deals, Furniture, Home, Reviews, SALES, Shopping, Uncategorized

If you had to choose an area of your home as your favorite, which room would it be? When I typed that question, I thought I had my favorite room in mind but as I thought about it, I have more than one favorite. I was going to say my bedroom because I spend a lot of time there sleeping and just getting away from the noise of our busy household, but as I thought more about it, I realized how much I like our Kitchen and dining room area too. We spend a lot of time in these two rooms preparing and eating meals, doing school work and just living, being together.

What is essential to your favorite room? A comfy place to sit and relax, right? Well, I have a product that fits those qualities! It’s CordaRoy’s Beanbag bed and chair combo.

About CordaRoy’s

CordaRoy’s was recently featured on ABC’s popular show called Shark Tank. The owner of CordaRoy’s, Byron Young, was able to secure a deal with one of the sharks, Lori Greiner, who has her own show on QVC-TV.

CordaRoy’s is a unique company in that it offers a beanbag chair that is also a bed. The beanbags come in a variety of sizes: Kids Sleeper, Full Sleeper, Queen Sleeper, King Sleeper and King Sleeper Sofa. The other unique quality is CordaRoy’s beanbag cover. It’s made of quality corduroy that not only comes in a lot of cool colors but it is also removable making it easy to clean – and yes, it is machine washable! Prices range from $129-$599 for the beanbag sleepers. CordaRoy’s also sells extra covers, pet beds and footstools.

CordaRoy’s Beanbag Bed

To say we were excited to receive a CordaRoy’s full size beanbag bed to review is an understatement! I actually made my daughter wait to open the box until I was done work and ready to take photos.

CordaRoy’s beanbag bed arrived in a fairly small box that looked like this:

There is a special way to unpack the box so we had previewed this unpacking video supplied by CordaRoy’s. I share it just in case you are interested in it:

My daughter excitedly opening the box!

Inside we found a neatly packaged cover, instructions and guarantee on top of the vacuum packed beanbag bed.

My daughters unpacked the bed like pros and got it into it’s slate chenille cover (blue is my daughter B’s favorite color!). Here she is with our youngest, sorry the photo is blurry, I have an issue with my family remaining still while snapping photos!

Here is CordaRoy’s beanbag as a chair, which my daughter uses to read and do schoolwork on by day:

This is CordaRoy’s beanbag as a bed, which my daughter uses to sleep on at night:

And yes, she gave me permission to post this last photo, as it shows her utter delight in her new CordaRoy’s beanbag bed! 🙂

B’s CordaRoy’s Beanbag Bed Review

B says the beanbag chair is the perfect size for her to curl up alone or to share with one of her teen sisters or with two younger siblings. She says if she puts it at the right angle it makes a perfect throne! She thoroughly enjoys her new chair for reading and doing her school work. She says it is fairly easy to unpack into a bed at night.

B thinks her beanbag bed is lovely and squishable like arms hugging her. It makes a lovely nest for sleeping. It stays warm when she gets up. For example, she got up and was gone for an hour and a half to pick veggies for our CSA boxes and to milk Miss Moo and her bed was still warm when she returned to it after her shower! She says it is very soft and that she loves it. As she stated above about the chair, she says the beanbag bed is fairly easy to pack up into the beanbag chair.

One of our sons wants to steel B’s new beanbag bed and the rest of the children really, really like it! I still need to take a few moments to try out her beanbag chair and her beanbag bed, I just haven’t yet. I’m going to have to do it while she’s out milking because then I’ll know it’s vacant!

Shop Now for a 15% Discount!

CordaRoy’s is offering Faith and Family Reviews’s reader a great little deal! If you place an order at www.cordaroys.com on or before October 12, enter the coupon code BEANBAGREVIEW (no space) and you will receive a 15% discount on your purchase of one CordaRoy’s sleeper! Hope you’ll take advantage of this offer as CordaRoy’s beanbag bed will make a great gift or addition to your favorite room!

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V8 V-Fusion Refreshers

Posted by html404 on October 2, 2013
in All Natural Products, Family Stuff, Food and Treats, Health and Nutrition, Reviews, Uncategorized

Faith and Family Reviews received the following product and a gift card 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.

We recently tried V8 V-Fusion Refreshers and were pleasantly surprised by their yummy flavors.

What are V8 V-Fusion® Refreshers?

New V8 V-Fusion Refreshers are a light and crisp juice drink with a 20-25% blend of fruit and vegetable juices that come in four delicious – and unique – family pleasing flavors. Made with both fruit and vegetable juices, V8 V-Fusion Refreshers are naturally sweetened, contain no artificial colors, flavors or preservatives and are an excellent source of Vitamin C.

V8 V-Fusion Refreshers are available in four tasty flavors, Black Cherry Berry, Cranberry Grape, Tangerine Passionfruit and Peach Strawberry, providing premium juice refreshments that will make the whole family happy.

We received Tangerine Passionfruit and Black Cherry Berry in 46 oz bottles. The ingredients of these two V8 VFusion Freshers are as follows:

Tangerine Passionfruit: Water, reconstituted vegetable juice blend, (water, concentrated juices of sweet potatoes, carrots), reconstituted fruit juice blend, (water, concentrated juice of apple, tangerine and passion fruit), sugar, contains less than 2% of citric acid (for flavor), natural flavoring, passion fruit concentrate, vitamin C (absorbic acid).

Black Cherry Berry: Water, reconstituted vegetable juice, (water, concentrated juices of purple carrots, sweet potatoes, carrots), reconstituted fruit juice (water, concentrated juice of apples, cherries, strawberries, red raspberries, black berries), sugar, contains less than 2% of citric acid (for flavor), malic acid, natural flavoring (contains pomegranate juice), vitamin C (absorbic acid), natural flavor.

All these ingredients do not look so bad to the naked eye, but the natural flavoring is obscure so I’d like to know what exactly it is, pretty please, V8?

V8 V-Fusion Refreshers Review

I turned to my dear husband for V8 VFusion Refreshers review photos, because as you know he adds a definite umpf to my blog posts. 😉 Remember, he’s the one who turns his nose up at most veggies, so getting him to drink something with the word vegetable in it was progress in and off itself. The children are easy!

Hamming up his taste testing….

Tentatively bringing the cup to his mouth….

Taking a drink…..

Mmmmm…..surprisingly good!

Ahhhh…..the Black Cherry Berry is refreshingly good!

Therefore, we have a winner! Both the V8 V-Fusion Refreshers Black Cherry Berry and Tangerine Passionfruit were a big hit among the children as well. They even asked if we could buy more. We found the V8 V-Fusion Refreshers were tasty, tasting more like fruit juice than vegetable juice. Personally, I preferred the Black Cherry Berry over the Tangerine Passionfruit because the Tangerine Passionfruit flavor tasted something like peach to me and I’m not a huge peach fan. Nevertheless, it didn’t stop me from going back for more later in the evening!

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LeapReader “Ready, Set, Read & Write!”

Posted by 278Wife on October 1, 2013
in Books, Downloads, Education, Family Stuff, Kids Stuff, Parenting, Reviews, School, Techie Stuff, Technology/Electronics, Travel, Uncategorized

I received free LeapFrog products in order to host the LeapFrog sponsored MommyParty. The opinions expressed here are my own.

I am thrilled that I was able to be a host for the LeapReader “Ready, Set, Read & Write” Party, sponsored by Leapfrog! LeapReader is the complete learn-to-read-and-write solution. It combines reading, writing, and listening into one easy and fun system. LeapReader uses books, flash cards, workbooks, audio book apps, music apps, and even trivia apps to enhance the learning experience. If you’ve never tried a LeapReader, you must. It is lifechanging! My son and I call it a magic pencil, since it knows everything.

The activity book that came with the LeapReader was great. It really taught us how versatile the LeapReader was. For example, we turned to the page featuring “Cars” and the LeapReader read it to us. It also had a game to play, and it would sound out the words for you if you touched the words with the LeapReader.

When we turned the page to the “Leap and the Lost Dinosaur,” my son loved pointing the LeapReader on the different pictures and learning fun facts about them. He was engaged the entire time, and was learning. It is the best of both worlds! Another page he loved was a game you played with the “Muscular System” page. The LeapReader would give you a clue and you had to point to the answer. For example, touch the muscle you smile with. We played that for a good ten minutes.

The LeapReader flash cards were a hit, too. You are able to mix and match letters to build words. It has rhyming, spelling, and singing games as well. My son’s favorite were the singing games. If you touch one of the pictures with the LeapReader it sings a song, spelling and sounding out the picture. It actually made him start to remember how to spell the words, it was very catchy! My favorite feature was the included sight words list. Just touch the word with the LeapReader and it would say it.

We attempted the Writing books, but my son was more interested in hearing the stories than writing. Some of my friends’ kids came over and tried them, and they had a ball! The LeapReader really tells you step by step how to write Upper and Lowercase letters, while saying letter sounds. I found it amazing that the writing magically appears on the special paper.

Each of the writing activity sets includes a workbook filled with fun activities as well as extra writing paper so you can practice. The activity books are so interactive that the kids are constantly engaged.

The Get Ready for Kindergarten book is a must for all preschool aged children. It teaches letters, vowels, beginning sounds, blends, patterns, numbers, skip counting, math, months, seasons, community places, and more. This was my son’s favorite book. He plays with it almost daily. There is so much to do on each page, that he rarely does the same thing twice.

My son really enjoyed reading the Monsters University LeapReader Interactive Book, too. You can either touch on the book picture and it will read it for you, or you can touch word by word to read and follow along. For now my son likes to listen to it, but I’m sure in no time he will be wanting to touch word by word. This will then teach him how to read.

I am absolutely in love with the LeapReader “Ready, Set, Read & Write” system. In additon to all of the workbooks, flash cards, and books you can buy for your LeapReader, you can also download apps to put on the LeapReader. Mine was conveniently loaded with two audio books, learning music, and a trivia app. Let me just tell you how amazing this is for travel. My son brings this in the car, plugs in his headphones, and enjoys listening to the stories and music. With a touch of a button you can switch between apps. The LeapReader is lightweight so I carry it in my purse or diaper bag when we are out and about so he is always entertained and more importantly, learning. The best part is that no batteries are required. Simply charge it with the included USB cord and you are good to go!

I can honestly say that this LeapReader is life changing. I will be telling all of my mom friends about how great of a learning tool this is. It is great for reading, writing, and listening skills. My son has yet to become bored with it, and continues to ask me to buy more books or apps for him. I love that he asks me to buy him books rather than toys. The LeapReader is definitely going to create lifelong learners for all children who use it!

www.LeapFrog.com

I received free LeapFrog products in order to host the LeapFrog sponsored MommyParty. The opinions expressed here are my own.

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What Are Your Hobbies?

Posted by html404 on September 30, 2013
in Crafts, Family Stuff, Fun Stuff

Hobbies are usually our way of doing something we enjoy in our spare time. What’s spare time you ask? Good question! But that’s not what my post is about. I have had a lot of hobbies over the years, nothing overly serious or out of this world but things I have enjoyed and gained pleasure from.

Childhood Hobbies

When I was growing up I was a part of Girl Guides and 4-H. I believe those groups helped make me a more rounded person, especially in my interests and hobbies. We always had projects on the go. I sewed, embroidered and even knitted. I still remember going to my grandmother’s to get help with a knitting project when I was making slippers. Going to my grandparents house was a highlight when I was a child, not just for knitting help. They were very involved and loved taking me places. Shopping, church, bingo – www.galabingo.com/mobile/bingo – in the church basement…my grandmother was a social butterfly. But I digress…

Hobbies Before Children

Before I had children one of my hobbies was crafts. I actually worked a Franks Nursery & Crafts for over two years until I quit when I was six months pregnant with our first child. Let’s just say I spent a good amount of money there! I would use my discount and any coupons we were allowed to use and stock up on craft items. I think this year we finally finished up what I had left of all of those supplies.

Some of the individual crafty things I enjoyed were: painting plaster Christmas ornaments, cross stitching, latch hook and sewing.

Hobbies After Children

My hobbies after I had children did not change too much, I just added baby books (for the first three children anyways) and photo albums for each child…well, up until our fifth. We got a digital camera when I was pregnant with our sixth so the last three children’s baby and toddler days are in digital format needing to be printed out and put in albums. We were going to start scrapbooking but that fizzled out before we really go started.

Hobbies take time and money, those two things are precious commodities these days.

So what are your hobbies?

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Dots on Tots

Posted by 278Wife on September 27, 2013
in Baby Products, Children's Clothing, Clothing, Eco Friendly Products, Fashion, Organic, Reviews, Uncategorized

Dots on Tots is a company striving to provide high quality organic cotton hats for babies and toddlers. Skin sensitivities are becoming more and more common among babies. By using organic materials, babies’ skin can be protected and parents can have peace of mind. Dots on Tots features innovative hat designs for girls and boys all made from natural, certified-organic cotton. They specialize in ear flap hats to protect babies from outdoor elements such as cold and wind, as well as providing protection from ear, nose, and throat infections.

My daughter had the pleasure of wearing Dots on Tots’ organic cotton Ear Protection flaphat. The natural, eco-friendly material was ultra soft and very lightweight. It’s perfect for Fall right now. It keeps her head nice and warm without overheating. The ear flaps fit securely over her ears, but were not too tight to where she was trying to pull them off. It has a nice velcro closure under the chin that stayed secure. She felt very comfortable in it.

We always go for walks in the stroller and my daughter tries to fall asleep, but sometimes she wakes up from the cars passing by or the dogs barking in the neighborhood. I noticed these noises did not bother her while she was wearing the hat, and she actually napped longer!

Dots on Tots also sells Noise Reduction Hats, which include special inserts for the ear flaps to reduce outside noises. These would be great for sporting events or any high crowd level attractions. Dots on Tots hats come in a variety of styles, sizes, and colors. Their materials are very soft and of high quality. What a great product and company!

Visit them at www.dotsontots.com

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Fencing – Wordless Wednesday

Posted by html404 on September 25, 2013
in Animals, DIY Projects, Uncategorized, Wordless Wednesday

Our version of fencing!

Fencing supplies from Premier One.

Hubby pounding t-posts.

Baby boy helping. Sorry the photo is blurry. I was disappointed when I went to download it. 🙁

End product – fenced in pasture for Miss Moo! And we need to move it again since she has just about sufficiently cut this pasture down. Since she respects the electric fencing, we only needed to put up one strand of fencing compared to three strands or 4-7 strands for escapee horses and goats!

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Picking to Win with Capri Sun Big Pouch

Posted by html404 on September 21, 2013
in Contests, Family Stuff, Fun Stuff, Home, Kids Stuff, Uncategorized

Capri Sun Big Pouch

Our teens and tweens sampled three flavors of Capri Sun Big Pouch products this weekend for the first time. GASP! I know! They’ve had regular Capri Sun pouches, just not the Capri Sun Big Pouch. Capri Sun Big Pouch Fruit Punch seemed to be the flavor that was enjoyed the most, as Capri Sun Big Pouch Maui Cooler and Capri Sun Big Pouch Strawberry Kiwi were more faintly flavored according to my crew. Our teens enjoyed drinking Capri Sun after our “Pickers Adventure” and after working hard fencing for a couple of hours. We had to put up more fencing for our cow since she grazed through her new pasture this week. Oh the joys of rotational grazing! Capri Sun Big Pouch products are available at Walmart for just 88 cents a piece!

Capri Sun Big Pouch and American Pickers on History

Mike Wolfe, creator and star of American Pickers on History, in conjunction with Capri Sun Big Pouch are sponsoring a contest called Picking to Win with Capri Sun Big Pouch for you all to enter! The grand prize is a trip to Nashville, Tennessee. Contest winners (and 3 guests) will meet and do a half day pick with Mike Wolfe, creator and star of American Pickers on History. How exciting is that to all you pickers and history lovers! To enter the contest all you have to do is go to the highlighted link above, enter your name, email, address, birth date, phone number and agree to contest rules. Then upload a photo from your picking adventure of what you found on your pick and you are done! Takes no time at all.

100 other winners will win a picking kit. The items included in the picking kit Capri Sun Big Pouch contest are: Messenger Bag, Magnifying Glass, Gloves, Bandanas, Flashlights, Journal, Pen, T-shirt, Kid Pickers Book (signed by Mike Wolfe, creator and star of American Pickers on History) and Carabineers.

Capri Sun Big Pouch Pick Adventure

As I mentioned in my intro, we went on our own picking adventure. We love antiques and history so my teen “Om” and tween “JAG” helped me pick in the barn we are renting. When we made the agreement to rent the barn it was “as is” so a lot of OLD stuff was left in there. We assembled our own picking kit of gloves, a bag, flashlight, pen and notebook. My son and daughter grabbed a Capri Sun Big Pouch Strawberry Kiwi and our picking kit, then we headed to the barn.

We discovered a couple of old milk cans, an old gas can, thermos and bridle or halter as shown in the photo collage above. We have no idea the value of any of these items but we’d love to find out! I entered the photo of my son in the Picking to Win with Capri Sun Big Pouch contest. Be sure to enter your own picking photo!

Feel free to follow Capri Sun Big Pouch on Twitter (Please use hashtags #shop #CapriSunPickers and #cbias) and Facebook. Have fun picking!

What are your favorite places to pick? Your favorite pick items?

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