Jumpin-Beans

 To know me is to love me, right?  If you know me, you know I am a sentimental person. I love keepsakes and I am all about something specialized for the recipient.  You might also know I ABSOLUTELY love Christmas ornaments.   Fun fact - I absolutely despise putting up a Christmas tree.  Well, I hate the lights part of it all... but that is why I have a pre-lit tree these days!  But- I get so frustrated in putting on my ornaments.  First of all, I take a trip down memory lane looking and thinking about each and every single one...  Then, it is the making sure they are placed on correctly, spaced out and not all bunched up and all that good stuff.  Now, I just let the kids put them on and it is a conglomerate of ornaments here and there... and that is ALRIGHT with me... it is all about the memories, right?  At one point, we had several trees in our house.  One that was full of all sorts of ornaments, one that was more of the "gol...

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 . Do you have certain holiday traditions that you do each year?  Growing up, I remember ours just like it was yesterday.  We would go to my moms parents house on Christmas Eve, have dinner with moms side of the family and do our gift exchange with my grandparents.  Then, we would load up and drive home.  Once home, we would do Christmas with each other and then go to bed.  The next day, we would go to my dad's moms house and do Christmas with my dads side of the family.  After exchanging gifts with my grandma, we would go home and rest, play with our gifts from everyone and when younger, my grandparents would all come over that afternoon to see what Santa brought us.  Of course the traditi...

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. Countdown to Christmas: 24 Days of the Jesse Tree Tradition is an interactive picture book with 24 days of the Jesse Tree Tradition. This is a story for the entire family to learn more about people in the Bible and see their connection to Jesus.  Included in the book are activities, cut-out ornaments to hang on your Jesse tree and with each story comes a better understanding of what Christmas is really about.  Since having Broxton, I try to be the best mom I can be.  I try to do thing that will be great memories and I am trying to start cute traditions with him.  When he started preschool, we started reindeer food for the reindeer outside  (oats and colored sugar.)  He makes cookies f...

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. Can you believe it is ALMOST Halloween?  Seriously, the days seem to go by quicker and quicker. (Maybe having 2 "babies" instead of just 1 adds to it, I am guessing!)  I don't know if you have Halloween traditions as far as dinner, but we all need to eat beforehand, if not... candy will really want to be eaten that night and we all know that as tasty as it is, candy for a meal is not the way to go.  Maybe you cook something, maybe you pick up...  How about grabbing a sack of Krystals to feed the crew before the adventurous night out??? To help get you into the Halloween spirit, Krystals is offering one lucky reader a Halloween pack.  This pack includes: a Halloween basket  fille...

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. Welcome the Roaming Reindeer ! These are 2 cute little stuffed toys that were sent to our house to help Santa and the elves deal with Christmas...   With the Roaming Reindeer Kit, you get a hard cover book and 2 adorable plush reindeer.  They even have shirts on them that say 1 and 2. (Don't want you mixing them up!)   In Roaming Reindeer, we learn that Santa and the elves are so busy that they need a bit of help to see how the kids are doing... The next thing you know, the reindeer are paired up in groups of 2 to go to all the houses of the world.  If your little one is on their best behavior, they both stay... but if one starts to act up, Reindeer 1 will sneak away to let Santa know that there is a problem.  The great ...

The Night Before Christmas brings several traditions to our house.  I don't really remember any "traditions" growing up, just a routine we had each year...  We would go to my Mema and Grandaddy's house, then come home and do Christmas with my parents and brother.  The next day (Christmas) we would go to my Grandma's house and do Christmas with her.  Now that I am married and we don't live near home to go to those events, we have started making our own traditions. Broxton bakes cookies for Santa, we put out reindeer food for the reindeer and starting this year. we are going to read The Night Before Christmas.  It is going to be the last book in our Christmas Countdown of books....  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 were sent a copy of The Night B...

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. What is better than football?  How about football AND Charlie Brown!   We were sent the DVD   Touchdown Charlie Brown   for review and as soon as Broxton saw the case, he immediately had to yell out "FOOTBALL!"  followed by "Charlie Brown!"  finally followed up with " I want to watch that NOW, mom!" Of course, I put it on and we laughed and had a great time enjoying a classic such as Snoopy and the gang!  "Take to the filed as Peanuts score another all-new collection of hits.  It's the big homecoming game and Charlie Brown is in the spotlight at team kicker.  If that wasn't enough, he is also an escort for the homecoming queen and her court.  But w...

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. *** This has been updated, as I forgot to mention one totally awesome part.  Read the bottom!  *** I will admit, we have never really done anything for St. Patricks Day.  (I mentioned this before, but I want to make sure everyone knows this.)  Last year, Broxton went to school on St. Patricks Day and came home totally stoked talking about all of this stuff that the leprechaun did to his class.  This crazy little leprechaun made a mess, turned things crazy and did all sorts of stuff... but at the end, that leprechaun left each of his classmates a treat... He was SO EXCITED about it and still talks about it today. Well, luckily for us... we have a new tradition that we will be starting this yea...

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. If you remember, we did a book countdown this year.  Each night, Broxton was able to open a new "gift" and we had a new bedtime story to read.  I wanted to list the books that we opened, but I have a question for you as well... I am going to take all the Christmas and Winter themed books and put up until next year.  If you were me, would you go ahead and wrap them with the left over wrapping paper from this year?  Or wait and wrap them all up next year?  They are just going into a storage box until we need to pull them out next Christmas season....  (You can click on each title to read my review on the book.) Time for Kids - X Why Z  Time for Kids - Big Book of Why: Crazy,...

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. As a mom, I am always learning about new trends and products daily...  A bit ago, I learned of The Magic Christmas Key ... I had never heard of it before and I tell you, I am so excited that I was made aware... The Magic Christmas Key is more than a key... and more than a book... The Magic Christmas Key is a new tradition getting ready to start at our house!!! This book tells the story of a little boy that spots a Magic Key while out with his grandfather.  He asks his grandfather about it and is given the special key, as long as he BELIEVES in the Magic Of Christmas...  He is told to guard the key with extra safety, as it can cause trouble if in the wrong hands...   The story line of...

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. Okay, as a blogger, I learn so much about things that I have never heard of... Not only from other blogs, but from the emails I get talking about different products...  Well, for a couple of years now, I have heard of  "Hess Trucks" and this year, I get to tell you about it!!! Hess Trucks have been around since the 1960's.    The first one was made to be affordable for families ... and here we are, all these years later... with a great toy that comes with a great price tag!   The 2013 Hess Toy Truck is AWESOME!!!   At first, I was thinking that $27.99 might be a bit pricey...   Then, it arrived!   This toy seems like it is made to last and I am so very impressed with it! ...

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. If you remember, we are doing a Christmas Countdown for Broxton this year...  I was sent a great book that would be perfect for us to include and I wanted to share this book with you. The First Christmas Night from Ideals Publishing. I really enjoyed turning the pages of this book, although I know the story of Christmas, I was eager to see how this book was going to tell it. The story is beautiful, of course..  But, the illustrations are amazing...  I have to say, I loved that the illustrations had the glow coming from Baby Jesus lighting up the pages.... This will be the book that we read on Christmas Eve!   Synopsis:   Here is a lyrical retelling of the birth of Jesus on...

We have this place near my parents home town... Kids go there on school trips, we stop there for delicious boiled peanuts...   and also photo opportunities! I do believe that Broxton has gone each year... This year, we sort of dropped the ball.. We planned on going, but never made it, well, I mean we did not make it for the photo's.   We did stop once, but it was just for a minute and Broxton was not dressed the way I would have liked for photos... but he had fun and the memories continue!!! Had I not had the other issues going on, we would have been able to go for the photos I wanted!!! Either way, I still got pictures, so the tradition continues!!!