Jumpin-Beans

To know me is to love me, right?  Well, as long as I can remember, I have absolutely LOVED VAN GOGH!!!!   I mean, like wow - his work is just amazing and beautiful and I could get lost for days!  Do you have a favorite artist that you are just constantly drawn to???   Let me try to break it down a bit for you - remember "coffee table books" back in the day?  I don't ever heard people mentioning them now, so I don't know if it is even a thing these days...  Anyways - when I was in college - I bought this HUGE Van Gogh coffee table book - it was pricey too, but I just knew I needed it!  Then, we had the local museum - The High Museum of Atlanta - have a big Van Gogh exhibit and my best friend Cindy went with me to see it. I don't even know if she was really THAT into going to museums, but she knew I was and she went with me to experience something that she knew I loved.  Man, I could write a book about that girl... but now I am about to cr...

My little one worked so hard on this at dinner.  She did a great job, in my opinion, and she is only 3!  Maybe she will end up with artistic talent that seems to have skipped her mama!  Funny thing, way before Broxton and Savannah, LOCOS was my hang out spot in Atlanta, now as a mama, we have turned this location into one of our regular spots!   

It has been a while since I posted a Word-less/Word-full Wednesday post.  I know I share many pics on my Instagram, but thought I would share some over here.  Sorry if they are some you have seen before, I will try and get better at posting them more regularly here!  If you don't follow me on INSTAGRAM , head on over and give it a "follow"  I will wait! Since moving back down south, we have had to adjust to the limit of things to do around here.  In Atlanta there was always plenty of stores to go to, plenty of festivals, lots of friends and always an invite with something to do with the blog.  Now don't get me wrong, I love being close to my family.  It is nice that the kids get to see my parents so often and I would not trade that for anything... but it is still totally DIFFERENT than Atlanta.  This is a picture of when the local art museum had a LEGO exhibit.  I thought this was one of the coolest pieces of work the artist ha...

FTC Compliant Review Policy: The product(s) featured in this review were provided free of cost to me by the manufacturer or representing PR agency for the sole purpose of product testing. Opinions expressed are my own and are NOT influenced by monetary compensation. I know books are not for everyone, but around here, we love them!   Books are great gifts not only for the story they tell,but also for the education (they are reading you know!)  I remember growing up, my Nana would make me read the newspaper to her.  If I did not know a word, she would make me look it up in the dictionary and learn it.  No, I did not read the WHOLE paper to her, but she would pick an article out and make me read it to her.  I think that was what started my love of reading.  You know, you can find many things out by reading about it.  Another way my love of reading grew? Frequent trips to the library!   She lived near the library, so you better believe we made daily...

FTC Compliant Review Policy: The product(s) featured in this review were provided free of cost to me by the manufacturer or representing PR agency for the sole purpose of product testing. Opinions expressed are my own and are NOT influenced by monetary compensation. Image Credit- Crayola  Pretty much all children are back into the routine of school days.  I am pretty sure you all bought all the items on the supply list, but if you are like me, you wonder why they need all they do.  I saw where one teacher requested 40 glue sticks.  I am really hoping she meant to put 4 and it was an error, but that was not our school, so I will never know.  On our list we had pretty basic things... Items like 4 notebooks, 6 glue sticks, 3 boxes of crayons.  I know at our school they do the "community " piles with all of the supplies.  I will admit, I am not really a fan of that, but I have no say in it.  If I am buying Crayola Brand, I don't want my son to en...

FTC Compliant Review Policy: The product(s) featured in this review were provided free of cost to me by the manufacturer or representing PR agency for the sole purpose of product testing. Opinions expressed are my own and are NOT influenced by monetary compensation.   I love getting books that are in collaboration with The Metropolitan Museum Of Art.  There is just something extra special to me about them.  In the book, Noah's Ark, we not only get to see the artwork and hear the story of Noah's Ark, we also get to see some of the amazing work that is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art!   Talk about an extra special book!  If you are an art lover, you will really enjoy this.  At the end of the book, there are the credit pages that tell you the history of the artwork  on each page!   Noah's Ark from Abrams Books About the book Children and adults will love this beautiful retelling of Noah’s Ark and the massive flood that destr...

FTC Compliant Review Policy: The product(s) featured in this review were provided free of cost to me by the manufacturer or representing PR agency for the sole purpose of product testing. Opinions expressed are my own and are NOT influenced by monetary compensation.       We love art time here, but I will be honest with you, my creativity has gone on strike or something, because it is hard to do things these days... That was what I thought was so neat when we were given the chance to review a cool stencil set from Super Cool Art.  We got it and it was all pretty neat... We had a kit that contained all we needed for a fun day of art.  I went to post my review of it, but I could never get the site to come up.  I did not want to post a review and then not be able to tell you where to purchase, so I waited.  Today, I learned (just in time for Easter) that they have a pretty neat stencil set for Easter Eggs!    The website is up a...

I was not required to post this.  I just wanted to share this event with you guys!   A bit ago, we were invited to go to a free event at Learning Express.  We decided to make a day of it, so off we went!  We had friends meet up with us and we had a blast.   First of all, I had NEVER been to a Learning Express, so that was new to me.  I was also not familiar with the Creativity for Kids- so I was thrilled!   This was part of the email I received....  The Atlanta budget agreement puts money back into the community. However, the CRCT scores continue to lag in many metro Atlanta Schools. Many elementary and middle schools along metro Atlanta's southside continue to have trouble meeting standards in several subjects, particularly math, according to Georgia Department of Education data released Tuesday.   That is why, Faber Castell  Creativity  for Kids selected Atlanta for ' Creativity  Day' being announced this Satur...

*** This is not a sponsored post.  I just thought it would be cool to share if you are looking for something to do this weekend and you are near a location... CREATIVITY DAY IN GEORGIA New  research  suggests kids' test scores for creativity are falling and while Atlanta school’s CRCT scores are also declining, some parents wonder if might have something to do with the prevalence of smartphone and tablets. A nationwide movement designed to unleash kids' natural curiosity and introduce them to the world of creativity is underway across Georgia this weekend. Creativity for Kids was created nearly 40 years ago by two moms who had a dream of providing creative opportunities for all children especially when access to the arts in many schools is diminishing. Studies link creativity to academic performance and their mission is to get kids making things to unlock their potential. "So far, we’ve even seen children using the can itself in Atlanta and the results are ...

FTC Compliant Review Policy: The product(s) featured in this review were provided free of cost to me by the manufacturer or representing PR agency for the sole purpose of product testing. Opinions expressed are my own and are NOT influenced by monetary compensation. Having stepsons is a blessing to me... I love that Broxton has older brothers and when they are in town, we try to make the most out of our time together.  While sometimes we don't go anywhere or do anything, it is the fact of spending time together that is important to us.    I love to take pictures, but I really don't want a bunch of random snapshots hanging up in frames...  (Especially because when you have a house full of boys, they mostly tend to lay around in just shorts all day and as much as I love them, I don't want their shirtless photos plastered on my walls.) This past Spring Break, we were lucky enough to get to go to Zoo Atlanta for the day.  The boys were running around having...

FTC Compliant Review Policy: The product(s) featured in this review were provided free of cost to me by the manufacturer or representing PR agency for the sole purpose of product testing. Opinions expressed are my own and are NOT influenced by monetary compensation. No matter what gift giving reason you might have, Story Maps are a great gift to give!!!! When we bought our house, I knew we had a good amount of wall space and I wanted to officially make it home...  I love my family and wanted pictures of them around, but at the same time, I wanted more than just family photos...   When I was able to review a Story Map from the MyPlaceInTheWorld Etsy shop-  I was so excited since I had the perfect frame already in mind for it!!!! I ordered the "and they lived happily ever after" print. We decided to have the heart placed where our HOUSE is...  since we plan on being here forever. When it arrived, I was very happy with the color of the print and the fact th...

A few weeks ago, we went back to Albany (Georgia) and while there, I said I wanted to go and check out our "Art Park."  I had heard about it, but was really unsure what it was... From what I gathered, anyone (and I mean, anyone) can go in there and do any form of "art." The open air "art park." Up close, I did not notice that it was a girl.. I just saw lots of flowers...     But, once the photo was taken, it was all clear to me!!!! Broxton was not really sure what to expect! Just another form of "art" in the park! Wasn't really sure what this was...    I thought this was pretty neat...   and sweet!  I think they are supposed to go and paint over it, to make clean canvas for people to go and express themselves... I can not wait to go back and see what it looks like next time!!!! Do you have anything like this where you live?

FTC Compliant Review Policy: The product(s) featured in this review were provided free of cost to me by the manufacturer or representing PR agency for the sole purpose of product testing. Opinions expressed are my own and are NOT influenced by monetary compensation. We love reading books and it is fun to read the ones that have a bit of interaction with the book and the reader...  We were sent the book, Arlo's ARTrageous Adventure by David LaRochelle.  First of all, let me start with saying that I love going to Museums.  Guess that was an added bonus for me going to art school.  Anyways... I love going and hope that Broxton shares my love of art... We have never been to an art museum together.. I honestly just do not think he is ready to go at this time...  But, we did have the chance to go to museums through the internet and books!   In Arlo's ARTrageous Adventure, we get to enjoy the arts with a lift the flap theme. In the openin...

FTC Compliant Review Policy: The product(s) featured in this review were provided free of cost to me by the manufacturer or representing PR agency for the sole purpose of product testing. Opinions expressed are my own and are NOT influenced by monetary compensation. Oh My Goodness!!!! I have had a cell phone since I was 15... and with that, I have pretty much always had a cell phone near me... I love the phone!!!  Although, I don't "talk" on it as much as I used to... Now, its all about texting and taking pictures! When Marc was deployed, I took TONS on the phone and would quickly email them to him...   That was a great thing, with a newborn!!!  But, the thing was... that was as far as it got... My phone to his email... but never printed or anything...  Fast forward to now..... Zooooooooooooooooooom...  I love photo's and love to display them all over the place.... I saw there was a company called "snapbox" and I was eager to see about add...