Jumpin-Beans

 As the holidays get closer, time seems to get busier.  Let us all take time to enjoy each other.  Time is to short to waste it always rushing.  Grab a book and snuggle up with the ones you love. Here are a couple that you can add to your list this year.  (Or even wrap to put in the Christmas Countdown pile!)  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. Florida mom-of-two Shannon Q. McDonald wanted to find a way to tell her kids about face masks in kid-friendly language while also making them laugh at the same time. Her new full-color children’s picture book for kids ages 2-6 years old describes and illustrates the different styles of masks, characters that wear them, when you can wear them, and interesting ways to use ...

Oh My Goodness.  Do you have people on your Christmas list that are just difficult to buy for?  Like you really want to get them a gift, but they really don't "need/ want" anything... so it makes it hard?  Well, let me just tell you about a little gem I have stumbled upon.  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. Cleanlogic body care is the product you need to buy!  Like, for real!  I am not one to really pamper myself.  For the most part, I don't wear makeup, so I just wash my face in the shower and go on about life.  I don't have any skin care routines that I stick to, but I am telling you now... Cleanlogic has changed my shower routine a bit!   Now, like I said, I don't wear makeup, so I don'...

If you mention MARVEL, you have our attention.  Broxton was a fan and now Savannah loves the franchise too!   I mean, this is the girl that went as Iron Man for Disney Day at school when all the other girls were going as Elsa!   Anyways, we wanted to see Shang-Chi as soon as we saw it was coming to theaters, but life happens and we didn't get to do so. You better believe that we watched it last night and it does NOT disappoint!     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 movie is so good!  We loved it and to be honest, I am ready to watch it again.  We all were glued to the screen the whole time!  You don't have to be a huge MARVEL fan to enjoy, so if you are new to the family, welcome ...

Well, the way things are going, tomorrow will be Christmas!  I mean, whew... time is flying so fast! It seems like once we hit September, the days are racing by!  We went out of town for a wedding recently and you know what Savannah did?  She took ALL of the toy flyers that we have been getting in the mail so that she could work on her Christmas list!   She wants a little of this and a little of that.   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 were sent one of the For Keeps dolls for review and she absolutely loves it!  The doll is just the right size, but the thing is... it comes with the cutest little cupcake.  The cupcake holds these little messages in it that have affirmations on them.  (Th...

Oh my goodness, can you guys believe it is already November?  I mean... wow... time sure is flying, at least on my end of things!  You know how much we love reading around her...   and I love the idea of a Christmas countdown using books.  I have done it in the past and it is a fun thing for us to do. The thing is, you don't have to do new books.  You can get some new ones and mix in old ones.  Some people choose to do Holiday themed books, while others are a variety.  We have done both.  You can even mix in coloring books in there if you want.  I have seen some people number them how they want them opened and others just grab whichever book you want to use! 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...

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 Christmas gets closer and closer, I know some are looking for perfect books to add to their gifts.   I normally give Broxton a book or two for gifts, but the last few years, we started doing a countdown to Christmas.  With that, I take old books we already have and mix in new books that are gifts for him.  Once I numbered them 12 - 1.   Normally The Night before Christmas is number 1... then, I let him pick one to open.  (You can number them to be opened a certain way, or just let them pick one each night to open, totally up to you. There is no right or wrong way to do this.  Some people do it each night in December, we have done that before too.   Oh yeah, I have mixed in Christm...

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. We have THE PERFECT book to read to START our Christmas Countdown.   What book is that?  It is The Sparkle Box .   I am sad to say that I have never heard of The Sparkle Box before... But, I am so glad that I am aware of it now... In the day and age where many people have forgotten that "Jesus is the Reason for the Season" it is nice to know that this book is out there. Not only is The Sparkle Box a great book to read for our Christmas Countdown, this is a great reminder for us to all take a look at our selves a bit more. The Sparkle Box is going to be a tradition that we read each year, as a friendly reminder what the season is all about... Don't get me wrong, my son knows that it is Jesus...

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. Another book we will be unwrapping for our Christmas Countdown is Brownie Groundhog and the Wintry Surprise .  This book was cute and I will admit, I had no clue where the story was going... Brownie the Groundhog heads off to hibernate for winter and tells Fox NOT to eat Bunny, as it was his company... Next thing you know, Fox is at Brownie's... asking questions... waking Brownie up...  (You can tell Bunny is not comfortable with this at all!) Fox keeps borrowing things from Brownie and Bunny is the one interpreting correctly what is being said! I was so lost (in a good way!)  and was eager to see what was going to happen! Of course, after being constantly bothered... Brownie is awakened... ...

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. Adding a  Christmas book to our Christmas Countdown, we will be reading The Gifts They Gave from Sterling Publishing.    Talk about a super sweet book!   Kids don't always think of the gifts that were given to Jesus that night... I love that The Gifts They Gave help to share more than just the physical items... Like the donkey...   "I carried his mother uphill and down. I carried her safely to Bethlehem town." This is a great book to invoke conversation about that wonderful night! I can not wait to read it with Broxton and to discuss all the glorious things that happened that night!!!! Geared for ages 2-5 Jesus our brother, kind and good, Was humbly born in a stabl...

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. In keeping with our Christmas Countdown of the books we will be reading, we have a new one from Sterling Publishing...   Christmas Eve with Mrs. Claus . First of all, let me tell you...  I was totally surprised to open it to read and see that it was a flip the flap book!  I had no idea!!! So, I started to read about what all Mrs. Claus did to get ready for the big night... We all think about Santa, but you know... the lady of the house doesn't just sit around doing nothing... She had to make FLYING biscuits for the reindeer... She had to make a snack for Santa.. Of course, all the baking makes a huge mess, so she has to clean it all up... Needless to say, she is just as busy as everyone else before...

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...

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 just loved reading about Clumsy Duck. This, to me, was a great story about friendship!!! In Clumsy Duck , we meet Duck and Chick.   As duck tried to walk, she is constantly falling down...   Chick tries to help, but it seems like there is no getting around it... Duck is clumsy! Then, chick notices their prints and sees that duck has much bigger prints...   Maybe that was why she was so clumsy...     The longer they walk, the more clumsy duck appears..   until....  Until what?  I can't tell you... You will need to get the book and read it...  I loved that it was a great story and that chick didn't give up on his clumsy friend... You just have to look to fi...

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. Broxton knows his ABC's, so we don't have to worry about buying all sorts of ABC books, but it is nice to have books to review with him and it is always exciting to have a new type of book to look at. We were sent an "American Museum of  Natural History" ABC Animals book and I was very impressed. This is a board book, so it is a very sturdy book... but it is also a good sized book so there is no need to worry about losing it and it is large enough to have a couple kids share it looking together. In ABC Animals , we get to learn all 26 letters of the alphabet, but we also get to meet some of the cutest animals...  Up first, A is for Armadillo's...   I loved that, since his soccer team was t...

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. Adding to my collection of books to do a Christmas Countdown with Broxton, we now have Bully Bean .  We have read a few of the Lima Bear books in the past, so I know Broxton is going to love seeing his old friend, Lima Bear!   I really like reading books that talk about bullying. We talk to Broxton about telling us if there is a situation about bullying ...   If it happens to him, tell someone... if he sees it happening to a friend, stand up for them... and we also talk about him being a good boy and not being a bully to others. I was happy that Bully Bean was sent to us. This is a book about a Big Bear that is nicknamed "Bully Bean." He is mean to everyone and all the other bears are just so v...

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 are looking for a hilarious book, Sports Illustrated for Kids - Top Dogs is just the ticket!!!  This book had me laughing as soon as I saw the cover and on each page, I caught myself grinning...  This book has sports facts, but it is mixed in with dog loving information to...  Babe Ruff?  Michael Stray-han?   It is so funny... and since Broxton wants a dog... (and we aren't getting one any time soon,) this is the closest to it... Top Dogs  also includes: ·           Best in Show:  From legendary golfer  Arnold Palmeranian , to Hockey star  Wayne Fetchzky , these pups stand as the all-time great [Danes] in their ...

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. Glad you decided to come back and see what other books are going to be in my Christmas Countdown!  This one is for the sports lover in us all...  I can't say just boys or dads, as I know many girls and moms that love sports as much as or MORE than their husbands/sons!   The latest book?  Sports Illustrated Kids : The Top 10 of Everything in Sports!   Contents: The Top 10 Lists:  Championship Games Stadiums Signature Looks Fastest Unbelievable Moments Strongest Arms Sports Movies Families Controversial Calls Logos Greatest Athletes Little Guys Big Guys Clutch Performances Athlete-Actors Jersey Numbers Rivalries Mikes Celebrations Nicknames...