Just Keep Chewing, Just Keep Chewing + Giveaway

My children just love creating and making things. They jumped at the chance to make their own chewing chewing gum!

We pulled out all the ingredients and went over what each one was. Each child had their job assigned to them.

Melt the gum base.

Warm the corn syrup and mix with melted gum base.

Make a mountain out of the powdered sugar.

Mix and knead and roll like bread dough.

Mix in the flavor

It's a messy job, but someone had to do it!

We made a big cherry gum and a little peppermint gum.

Glee Gum has amazing "Make Your Own" kits that are fun for the kids and quite educational!

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Disclosure: Thank you Glee Gum for this kit that we were able to review. All opinions are our own.

You now have a chance to win your own kit!

GIVEAWAY TIME

The Promise *A Movie Review*

My family and I were so happy to finally take some time out of our busy schedules to sit down and watch The Promise: The Birth of the Messiah. Glorious Films did an amazing job creating this animated musical.

My children and I just love the theater and musicals, and we found this movie very entertaining. My 10 yr old son said that he really liked the music. I LOVED that the words to the songs are words from the Book. They were singing scripture...what a great way for kids to memorize the miraculous birth of Jesus Christ. They really bring this Bible story to life.

The Promise was very high quality animation. Up to par with any of the other Hollywood animation studios for sure.

I asked my kids what their favorite part of the movie was, and they all said "When Baby Jesus was born!" My 6 year old told me that she didn't like when Mary's mom didn't believe her. That made for a great conversation for my daughter and I. I'm sure we will all have that moment or moments in life when God is directing us down a certain path or telling us to do something, and there will be people who'll be negative or think we're crazy. We still have to trust God in everything.

I had a few favorite parts myself. The love story between Mary and Joseph was so beautiful! The story of Elizabeth and Zechariah was another favorite. They are characters that we can relate to. Elizabeth and Zechariah remind me of some of my family members. When the angels appeared before the shepherds...aaahhh! I loved that part too! This is such a great movie to remind us the reason for the season. 

I would recommend this movie to every family to watch anytime of the year. I like that it's biblical and not

Christmas-sy per say. This would be a great stocking stuffer, or a gift to open on Christmas Eve to watch before Christmas.

You can purchase this wonderful movie on Amazon.com.

Find out more:

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Thank you Glorious Films and Propeller for allowing us to review this movie

MomCon 2013

I'm not sure how many of you are mothers of preschoolers, but if you have a MOPS group in your area, I highly recommend you participating! I just returned from MomCon in Kansas City, MO and oh what a blessed time we had! Every year MOPS hosts a convention that lasts about 3 days. They have wonderful authors, amazing speakers, and an anointed worship service! Nothing on earth compares to 4,000 voices singing praises to His name.

What is MOPS you ask? If you haven't guessed yet it stands for Mothers of Preschoolers, but you don't have to have a preschooler to partake. You can participate from conception thru Kinder. Some areas even have a Momsnext group for school age kiddos. It's a great way to get some much needed adult conversation with other moms while someone is watching your babies in Moppets. It's also a great way to create friendships that are life lasting. I have met some of my bestest friends at MOPS. You can find prayer warriors, encouragers, supporters, and so much more within a group of moms.

Now I want to brag about the convention! I went with 3 other ladies from our steering team. Last year I went as a steer team member, but it was so great to go as just a mom. I was able to relax and not feel like I HAD to get all this information to take back with me. I still got a lot of great info though ;). I didn't feel guilty when if I  missed a workshop because they filled up. Last year I felt a little guilty when I skipped a workshop to go shopping in the Marketplace. So glad I didn't need to worry about that this year!

The authors/speakers...gifted women of God who brought us laughter and tears. It's great to know that we are not in this motherhood journey alone. Even those who appear to "have it all" go through the same struggles as the rest of us.

Some pointers that go with this year's theme shared with us:
*There is beauty in the broken
*God uses the and loves the broken
*I need to find God's beauty in my broken

I'm just going to do some name dropping here so you know how awesome MomCon is...

Alexandra Kuykendall
"The Artist's Daughter"

Beth Moore
So many books and bible studies

Elisa Morgan
Many books including "The Beauty of Broken

Jen Hatmaker
Many books including newest book "7"

Kathi Lipp
Author of many books

Lysa Terkeurst
Many books including "Unglued"

They all had amazing things to share with us! Jen Hatmaker was my favorite this year though. She was just so real! She spoke about our kids having spiritual nannies in this day and age. She also spoke about not always taking care of everything for our kids. No, I'm not talking about the necessities for life. "Our kids will never make it as His disciple if we cushion everything for our kids. Our job is not to shield kids from everything hard, but to parent them with love and guidance. We should not pull our kids completely out of the world into our own "Christian" universe.We need to parent diligently not fearfully. If we are so concerned with raising safe and happy kids, then who will raise the disciples?" 

She did throw in some scripture as well about what Jesus' disciples went through back then. There is a process in becoming a disciple of Christ: sacrifice, loss, struggle, courage, danger, failure, risk...is that not when we grow the most? Our kids need to experience these things as well. I don't want to be the reason my children choose safety over courage. "Scared moms raise scared kids and brave moms raise brave kids." The real question is, do I believe and trust that God is caring for my kids?

We need to be imitating Christ as well. "We have to guide with our lives and not just our lips." If we aren't living it then we have no hope in leading it. We must remember that we are not just mothers, but also disciples.

Sorry if my writing seems scattered. I was going through my notes and I'm sure I forgot to write down some things, but the basics are all there. Her talk made an impression on me. I met her, bought a book, and now look forward to making some positive changes within my family unit.

I highly encourage every mother to go to at least one MOPS Convention. It will change your life if you let it.

Equation Time

I must tell you, Thinkfun is my go to place for fun and educational games. The most recent game my kids and I played with is called Math Dice Powers. The boys in my house just LOVE math, so I knew they would love this game.

With this game you get 2 target dice with 12 sides. 1 dice is the base, and the other is the exponent. So if you rolled a 6 and a 2, it would be 6 squared. Then you have 3 scoring dice with 6 sides. With those scoring dice you roll 3 different numbers. You combine those 3 numbers to get as close as you can to the Target answer. 

I know they put ages on these games, but my youngest even had fun playing. She's only 4, but in her mind if big brother can do it so can she!

Educational games that my kids love are the BEST! This game is SUPER inexpensive too! You can buy it at ThinkFun.com and Amazon.com for a really great price. It's a great Christmas gift idea!

OK, It's that time of year again where the people vote for their favorite toys and games. I must tell you that ThinkFun has 3 nominations this year!  

Their nominations are:

Laser Maze – Innovative Toy of the Year

WordARound – Game of the Year

Laser Maze – Specialty Toy of the Year

You can vote for them here.

As an added bonus, each vote is a chance to win one of 

twelve TOTY prize packages filled with toys and games 

featured in each category! (Voting ends Jan. 13th.)  Many 

thanks for spreading the word and for your continued

 support of ThinkFun! And the happiest of holidays to you.

Thank you Think Fun for providing this game to our family to review.

I'm Still Here

It feels like it's been so long since I've been able to blog! I am so tired after getting 6 kids to bed! I hope that once school begins I can get caught up on the things I've fallen behind on. Fostering is a lot of work, and God has helped me get through this 1st year. I've grown a lot more than I ever thought possible, and so have my biological children and my husband. We sure do treasure our family time when we get it.

My life revolves around these kids, appointments, and meetings. Once in a while I get to have my "me" time at the gym, but the hubby has been working nights this month and that means no gym. It's almost August though! :)

I look forward to getting back to the old schedule and bringing you some great reviews and giveaways in the near future!

POWDER'ful Volume

Being a BzzAgent has it's perks I tell ya! I got the awesome opportunity to try out this new volumizing styling powder. And let me tell you...a little goes a long way!

My hair is super thin, fine and lifeless! It won't even hold a curl unless I drench it in hairspray. got2b powder changed my hair routine in the morning. I now just sprinkle in areas that I want more poof and rub it in. It starts out as a powder, but then gets a little tackier.

If you have thin, blah hair like myself then this can help. It puts a little life back into your limp hair. They advertise that it takes 10 seconds to volume. It may, but it takes me a little longer. The more you use it the faster it will go I'm sure. I love it!

You can find this product at your local drugstore and big chain markets. You can also purchase online at Amazon.com.

Thank you BzzAgent for allowing me to try out this fabulous product. 

GIVEAWAY TIME

2 winners will be chosen to win a free bottle of 

got2b Volumizing Powder

Happy Mother's Day

Just want to wish all the mommies out there a Happy Mother's Day! I hope you had a day filled with blessings. It is a sad Mother's Day for me because a woman who taught me so much in my impressionable years has passed away. I will miss her dearly! It is good to know that she doesn't have to suffer with her diabetes problems and other aches and pains she has developed over the years. She ran her race and finished it. She is now in the arms of Jesus. Just shows you how short life really is and how you are never promised tomorrow. Her husband dropped her off at the doctor's office and told her to call him when she was ready to be picked up. When he got the call, it wasn't the message he was expecting.

Hug your loved ones, and if they're not close enough to touch give them a call. Enjoy your family while you have them.

God bless you all!