Jumpin-Beans

 If you know me AT ALL - you know I absolutely LOVE photos!  I was the one walking around with a camera in highschool... way before digital cameras and cell phones!  I have so many photos and you better believe I have tons of photo albums.  The hard thing about cell phones and photos is that I have a very hard time deleting them once I print.  I know I should delete some, to clear out space.. but I love looking back at them!  The weird thing? I read that they said this generation is THE MOST PHOTOGRAPHED generation, but also the one generation that has the least amount of PRINTED photos.  ** Not in our house, I will print those jokers in a heartbeat!  The thing is, I had the chance to review MIXBOOK and make a photo album out of my own photos, so that saved me the trouble of printing and adding to an actual album!   FTC Compliant Review Policy:    The product(s) featured in this review were provided free of cost to me by the ma...

 You know my family and you know that we love to read.  If you are new here...a  quick background...  When I was younger, my Nana would have me read the newspaper to her to expand my vocabulary. My cousin and I lived for the summer reading programs at the local library. My mom loves to read and I am trying with everything I have in me to pass along the love of reading to my kids.  Broxton used to love to read and would put books on his list all the time, and don't get me started on book fairs!  Savannah is following along in the same way.  Our house has a fair share of books.. some in each room, as you never know when you might want to grab a book!  We have even started putting little free libraries in our community. (We started with one in Lithia Springs, Ga at the Harley Dealership.)  Now, we have one at the local Ear, Nose and Throat Doctor and another is about to go out at a restaurant.  With me being fortunate to review books, we ge...

I just thought this was too cute.  Her little bowling shoes!  Do you bowl?  Are you good?  Last time we went, I actually started off with like 3 strikes in a row and was pretty impressed, then I got annoyed and from that point on my game went down the gutter, just like my ball.  (Mom Joke, see what I did there?!)  What do you do for fun on the weekends? 

In keeping with the wishes or weeds post from last week, I thought I would share this picture I was able to take.  I call it "hanging on" because if you look, there is still a little guy hanging on!!!!! Do you see it?

March is Reading Awareness month, so I thought it would be nice to share with you a few books that would be great to share with your children this year.  There is no age too young to read to them, so I thought this 1-2-3 book would be perfect for Savannah.  It is a counting book and an animal book.  Oh, did I mention it is a board book, too??  Like I said, perfect!   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. 1-2-3 Moose   is a counting board book, but it is also a great photography book with different animals. Book Synopsis: Eminent photographer Art Wolfe's images of moose, cougars, mallards, and sea lions are a wonderful visual aid for children learning to count. Wolfe draws inspiration from his home region, the Pacif...

This is an image from the destruction from the tornadoes that hit Albany, Georgia on 1/22/17 As we were riding along, we spotted it... Do you see it?? Do you see the cross?

You know how you see something and you want it really, REALLY bad?  You get it and you are so excited...   then BOOM-- things happen?  Yeah, that is totally what happened with me.  I have been seeing people posting awesome pictures from their phone using Limelens smartphone lenses and I knew I just had to have it.  I was so lucky to get to review one for you guys...  Then, my phone lens cracked and I could not use my camera... so I had to postpone it.  Finally got a new (refurbished) phone and was all excited, boom... it broke... got a new (refurbished) phone and again... BROKE. Can you tell I am not having much luck?  Anyways, I wanted to tell you about Limelens, so I am sharing, but I don't have photos to show from my experience.  Stay tuned...  on instagram... I am NOT giving up!   FTC Compliant Review Policy:   The product(s) featured in this review were provided free of cost to me by the manufacturer or representing PR ...

I have been a lover of photography my whole life. I have tons of photos and while they are not organized, I love looking at all of my pictures and remembering the day they were taken. Some are in boxes, some are in my lazy version of a scrapbook and there are more and more on my computer that I have never printed.  I knew that I was slacking in the scrapbook department, so I wanted to print a mini yearbook / scrapbook for Broxton for each year he is in school. (At least the younger years where I am at school a good amount of the time.)  I was able to get a chance to work with MPIX to print a photo book for us!!!   It was super easy and he was so excited to get 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 . I will be honest, I am one 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. I love photos and I am so in love with photos on canvas.  We have a couple photographs that we have hanging up in our house.  (Actually have a few that are not of people, but are beautiful scenery photos that we took that are on our main wall in the living room.)  When Savannah was born, I knew that I really, really, REALLY wanted a nice large photo of her and Broxton - on canvas.  There is just something about a large canvas print. It speaks volumes to me.  Anyways, we had pictures taken of them at the hospital (they change so much those first couple of days!) and I knew that I had the perfect one of them that I wanted blown up large.  Make it even better, I love that it was done in black and ...

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. Now that the holidays are over and you have Instagramed, Tweeted, Facebooked and posted to all the other social media sites...  Why not find that perfect photo and take it off your phone --- and get it printed and into your home?   We were recently given the chance to check out the site Instantly Framed  and  I only had one draw back on it... It is only available on the iPhone App Store.  Lucky for us, we have an iPad, so we were able to check it out, but I do hope that they add an app for those not using Apple products.   When the picture arrived, I was very excited, I had planned to put it on our mantle.  The only problem was that I felt the stand made it lay back a bit ...

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. Would you like for me to admit one of my first #MomFails?   Okay... I was all determined to be the best mom ever... and I was going to write in Broxton's baby book.  Documenting everything and making sure he had a fully filled out book, since I did not have one.  (Yes, I had a baby book - but many blank pages)  Well, lets say that he is 5 years old now and that baby book,  I am not even sure where it is now, but I know there are many a blank page in there too,  Probably more than in mine, since I got what I thought was the best baby book out there...   Looking back, I think I got the wrong one.   When I saw that Anne Geddes had a baby journal available, I wanted to check...

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. When I was in college I fell in love with the works of Anne Geddes.  I thought her photos were amazing and just how sweet are all those little babies???  Even now, whenever I am out and about and I see some of her works, I immediately smile and think about how precious those images are and then I wonder how long it took her to take these photos... I mean, she is dealing with little babies !  Now, it seems like everyone is having babies!  Marriage and babies, always seems to be the topic of conversation.  When I had the chance to review the books from Anne Geddes (beautiful photos and hard padded covers)  I was all excited.  Who am I to turn down looking at those babies???? ...

Did I tell you Broxton was playing Baseball this year??? We LOVE 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. 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. I am not sure if spring break is going on in your area - but it is in FULL force here.  Broxton had his one week, the brothers had theirs another, seems like the end of March and all of April is Spring Break city around this area!   With that being said, I wanted to do a little bit of a "staycation" with the boys.  Living in Georgia ALL of my life, I tend to take the local attractions for granted, but not recently!   We had the opportunity to go to Zoo Atlanta the other day and to say we had a great time was an understatement!  We had a BLAST!!!!   I was so excited to go and see the twin baby panda's, but Broxton got in his mind he wanted to see the giraffes the most!  The older...

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 were sent Curious Critters Volume 1 for review a bit ago... and we really enjoyed it.  (Marc actually flipped through it with Broxton and he normally isn't a fan of books!)   Well, I was so excited when I was contacted about reviewing their latest edition.   Curious Critters Volume 2 is full of the amazing photos and fact filled text that I really enjoy!  You see, as you read the accompanying text that goes with each photo, you are learning... but it isn't in a boring way... It is really cute and fun... and I was very impressed with the knowledge I was learning... The one thing that stuck out to me? Armadillos are from a family (don't remember what it was called)  that used to be a whole l...

My dad cracks me up... He has drank Miller Lite - in the cans, as long as I can remember...  (That was a must have at my wedding reception, just so you know...) Well, this is the way the cans looked when I was growing up: Obviously, they have changed their look through the years, but they have reintroduced the cans from my childhood... and of course dad had to buy some!!!  I just think it is hilarious that he had the ad to show what it looked like.  ( I think the magazine was from 1986 or so.) What design/packaging have you seen come back around from your younger days?

Okay... So, we don't have snow here...  but I really LOVE that song... and my pictures are FROZEN (and I LOVE that movie.) Anyways- the weather is getting colder and colder... and Marc wanted to make an Ice Tree for Broxton... Here is what we had : What is the weather like where you 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. As I have mentioned before, I absolutely LOVE photo gifts... I just think they are so much more personal and having a 4 year old.... you know they just grow so fast!!! I think I have given at least ONE photo gift each year since becoming a mom... This year was no different and I even added a couple things for myself!!! Rite Aid has been quite the spot with all of their photo gift coupon codes ... Talk about helping you to save money!!! I can proudly say that I now have a beautiful canvas from them... and I gave my grandmother one of their fleece blankets.   Let me tell you about that...    I will say that it was a bit bigger than I expected...  which is a great thing, but I might have cho...