Woohoo! A Chick-Fil-A Giveaway!

The other day at Chick-fil-A!

My family gets so excited about Chick-fil-A--it's definitely our favorite fast food restaurant. They've always got fun things going on (the annual Cow Appreciation Day, Family Night, Halloween, you name it!)   Cow Day is coming up in July!  It's a holiday we always celebrate.  ;)  Every Chick-fil-A in the country participates, and everyone who dresses up gets their choice of free kids meal or value meal.  But I digress!  Back to the matter at hand!  Now Chick-fil-A is introducing 3 new premium salads and an improved wrap all under 430 calories made with premium ingredients, and we at my blog get to be a part of it!

Chick-fil-A Cow Appreciate Day--we all ate free!

 Take your taste buds to greener pastures. 

Chick-fil-A has a new #FreshMade App!  Check it out below and let me know what you think!

 

The new salads are:

• Grilled Market Salad: grilled chicken with 2 servings of veggie and a serving of fruit
• Asian Salad: freshly prepared with hot chicken and 2 cups of hand-chopped veggies
• Cobb Salad: freshly prepared with hot chicken and 2 cups of fresh veggies

GIVEAWAY!
One of my readers will receive 2 Chick-fil-A Salad Coupons for the salads of your choice.  Enter below by May 22nd.  I'll choose a winner the next morning via Random.org.

So what's your favorite thing to eat at Chick-Fil-A or which new salad do you think sounds best?

You can find Chick-fil-A on:

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Special thanks to the awesome people at Chick-fil-A, or that Chick-fil-A for providing us with this giveaway opportunity!

Essential Skills Advantage Giveaway! More Beautiful Simplicity

Essential Skills Advantage is the perfect supplement to any Homeschool curriculum!  It's also really great for traditional school students who need a bit of extra help.  

We're very impressed with everything about it.  It includes lessons on Math, Reading, Geography, and Science.  They focus on simplicity and I really like that they avoid too many distractions.  It helps children to focus on the actual task at hand.  Very concise yet still fun.  In a world where you have to actually take an initiative to keep your children from being entertained to death, this is a breath of fresh air!  After kiddos accomplish a short lesson, they get a star and when they get 100%, they get an accomplishment certificate.  Success it their greatest motivator.  My kiddos love it!  They're so proud when they get that 100%.

Essential Skills Advantage is for kids in grades K-6.  Their Math and Reading programs are individual for each of those grades, their Science program is comprehensive through grade 3, and their Geography program is comprehensive for grades 4-6. 

I also really love that it's so easy to pick and choose what lessons you want your children to do.  For example, my kiddos have been learning about counting money.  It's not at all necessary to do the activities in order.  You or your child can easily click on the subject you want and it comes up.  I really like how it's so customizable.  I'm looking forward to using this from now on to supplement our entire curriculum.  I love it! You can see below how simply it's broken down--very easy to use.

The Subjects

Math Units

Numeration Sections

Money Lessons

What can you buy?

Giveaway!
One of my readers will win 1 All-Access Student Plan-- a $129.99 value!  Enter below by 5/18 at 11pm anyone's time.  I'll choose a winner the next day via Random.org. For more wonderfully simple homeschool curriculum, check out our Alpha Phonics Giveaway, too!

You Can Find Essential Skills Advantage on:

Facebook
Twitter

Special thanks to the awesome people at Essential Skills Advantage for providing us with this program to review.  All opinions are completely our own.

Sparkly fun for the princess who's pretty inside and out! A "My Princess Bible Purse" Giveaway

 Sparkly fun for the princess who’s pretty inside and out!

Every month now, my daughters get so excited when our package comes in the mail from Tommy Mommies!  This month, one of the treasures inside was the new My Princess Bible Purse.  With simple text and lively illustrations, My Princess Bible Purse provides child-friendly examples of the characteristics that God develops in our lives. These qualities, such as love, joy, peace, and patience, result from the work of God's Holy Spirit in each one of us. 

The little "bible" really does act as a purse--The “carry-me” handle is perfect for little hands to pick up and carry with them wherever they go!  It's recommended for children from 2-5 and my girls are a bit older.  But, as you can see, they love it! It's even cute as a dress up accessory.
 

Bible teachings of the fruit of the spirit help girls develop a generous princess heart. 

You can see a flip book version of My Princess Bible Purse here.  Make sure your daughter is sitting on your lap when you click the link.  It's really cute and takes up the whole screen!

GIVEAWAY!

Enter below by May 16th at 11pm anyone's time.  I'll choose a winner the next day.

You can find more fun from Tommy Nelson on

Facebook

Twitter  

Special thanks to the wonderful people at Tommy Mommies for providing us with this book to review and giveaway!

What is your daughter or grand daughter’s favorite item to use for dress up?

Thank you, God, for Puppies and Kittens! A Winner's Choice Giveaway

God bless my puppy, and God bless me! Thank You, God, for giving him to me!

Two of the little treasures we received from Tommy Nelson this month were Thank You, God, for Puppies and Thank You, God, for Kittens.  My kiddos don't usually read board books much but they love these ones!  They're filled with adorable photos of all different kinds of puppies and kittens.  Through thankfulness for pets, children will learn to be thankful for the many blessings in their lives.

God bless my kitty, and God bless me! She’s as pretty as she can be!

These books are recommended for kiddos from 1-5.  They'd make especially wonderful baby shower or birthday gifts.  As you can see, my little guy especially loves the dog book.  He "reads" it to his stuffed puppy.

You can read the on-line flip books here: Kitten or Puppy.  They're super cute!  Make sure you have your son or daughter on your lap when you click the links!  They'll love it.  

GIVEAWAY! 
Enter below by May 15th at 11pm anyone's time. I'll choose a winner the next morning who will be able to choose either the puppy or kitty version.

You can find more fun from Tommy Nelson on

Facebook

Twitter   

Special thanks to the wonderful people at Tommy Mommies for providing us with this book to review and giveaway! 

Does your family have any pets? What kind?

Starlooks: Thee Most GLAMOROUS Subscription Box! And it's only $15!

I was just introduced to the Starbox.  I was so impressed and quite shocked when I realized it's only $15 a month for about $50 worth of products.  Everything I received was full-size and definitely high-end, "star" quality.   Every month's subscription includes 3-4 FULL SIZE makeup/beauty products by Starlooks, delivered to your door!  I absolutely love the Starbox!  Can you see why?!

If you say I look 34, I shall not believe you. ;)

In the April Starbox, I received:

• Mineralized Powder
• Sensation Mascara Primer
• Tendergloss Lipstick
• Mint SPF Lip Balm 

I'd pick a favorite but... they're all amazing.  The Mineralized Powder is translucent so it compliments any skin tone.  It's perfect over all 3 of my favorite foundations and I really love the way it pulls together my look.  And the Sensation Mascara Primer! The first time I used it, I actually said "Wow!" out loud and couldn't believe my lashes could look so long without falsies.  I kept glancing at myself in the mirror and fawning over my own lashes like a big nerd, but it's amazing!  The Tendergloss Lipstick is a nice shade and doesn't have that thick lipstick feel that so many lipsticks have.  I generally steer clear of lipsticks but I actually like this one, and that's saying a lot!  The Mint Lip Balm is my new favorite lip balm.  It's soft and has a nice minty, refreshing taste.  All of the products go so well together!  It couldn't have been planned more perfectly.

PROMO!
Currently, Starlooks has got a pretty awesome promo.  You can refer a friend to Starbox and have them use the phrase "give it back to your name" in the referral section of the check out page. They will refund you 1 month's shipping for up to 3 new subscribers that use your referral!

You can even order past Starboxes here!

You Can Find Starlooks At:

Starlooks.com

Facebook
Pinterest

Youtube
Twitter

Alpha Phonics Curriculum Giveaway, Beautiful Simplicity!

Using her Alpha-Phonics Workbook

I love finding new homeschool curriculum like Alpha-Phonics.  It's convenient for me (lesson prep takes about 2 minutes), fun for my kiddos, easy to use for all of us, and it's something that I can adapt for use with all of my children based on their level.  Last year, I realized that my children each needed daily one-on-one reading time with me in addition to group classroom.  Now, during Art or Free time, I take turns with them.  We sit in my room where it's nice and quiet and have our one-on-one reading time. We do an Alpha-Phonics lesson and then read a book together--their choice.  They love it--it makes them feel accomplished and they get that special time with me all to themselves.

I found Alpha-Phonics in one of my favorite homeschool magazines just last year but it turns out they've been teaching kids to read for a really long time--over 30 years! Tried and true!  I'm really amazed that it's so affordable.  You really don't need to spend a fortune on reading materials!  You can simply use Alpha-Phonics and any books appropriate for your children's reading level. We use Alpha-Phonics along with Book-It. By the way, make sure and sign up for Book-It for next homeschool year!  Enrollment just opened a couple days ago. 

Besides being a great curriculum, the customer service at Alpha-Phonics is amazing and they've got such great vision for our children!  Alpha-Phonics' publisher Peter Watt told me, "We view our business as much a ministry as it is a business.  We are in the business of saving little minds."  I like that very much! 

We've now been using the Alpha-Phonics primer since the beginning of the year.  We've just recently also begun using the Little Companion Readers and Workbook.  Today, we read "Velvet the Tomcat", a reader focusing on short vowels through lesson 42.  You can see my youngest daughter reading excerpts in our video... all went smoothly until her little brother tried to jump into the "movie"! 

The Prize!

GIVEAWAY!
One of my readers will win the same Alpha-Phonics items we received including: 

• Alpha-Phonics Primer w/ CD-ROM version (including teacher's manual and lesson plans)
• Alpha-Phonics Workbook (including spelling rules)
• 10 Little Companion Readers   

Fill out the form below by May 11th when I'll choose a winner via Random.org.  For more wonderfully simple homeschool curriculum, check out our new giveaway for Essential Skills Advantage!

You Can Also Find Alpha-Phonics On

Facebook

Special thanks to the wonderful people at Alpha-Phonics for providing us with these products for review and giveaway!
  

"TJ and the Time Stumblers" Chapter Book Series: A Huge 5 Book Giveaway!

One of my readers will receive these 5 books from the T.J. and the Time Stumblers Series, perfect for middle school readers! This series centers around two 23rd century goofballs, Tuna and Herby, who travel back in time to study T.J. Finkelstein for their history project. 

T.J. Finkelstein is your average seventh grader trying to survive junior high. Average except for...

Just moving from the Midwest to crazy, money-is-no-object Malibu, California, becoming mortal enemies with the school’s most popular girl, who stars on the Dizzy Channel, oh yeah, and being followed around by two goofball boys from the 23rd century!!!

That’s right—Herby and Tuna have traveled back in time to study T.J. for a class project. Unfortunately, she is the only one who can see them. And unfortunatelier (don’t try that word on your English teacher), their “help,” which involves using whacked-out 23rd-century gadgets, only leads to more mayhem and plenty of side-splitting laughter.

GIVEAWAY! 
Enter below by May 9th.  I'll choose a winner the next morning via Random.org.
In the meantime, check out all of the other excitingness at our blog The Traveling Sisterhood!

Safari Ltd--Amazingly Lifelike Learning Toys Giveaway!

"One cannot but be in awe when one contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality.  It is enough if one tries to merely comprehend a little of this mystery every day.  Never lose a holy curiosity." -Albert Einstein

"A holy curiosity"... I like that.  The above Einstein quote was on the tag that came with my daughters new Sea Otter from Safari Ltd.  The kiddos also received a Bearded Dragon and an Eastern Chipmunk to review.  All of the animals are very lifelike, as you can see in the photos below!  We've learned a lot just by playing with them, reading about their habitats and eating habits, and Googling photos of them. 

Along with the animal toys, Safari Ltd. also sent us a pocket-sized full-color catalog.  My daughters were amazed at how many animals are available!  They're already deciding which ones they want to buy next with their "own money".  I'm pretty certain that if there's an animal you can think of, Safari Ltd. makes it.  Not only do they make replicas of actual animals, but they also make historical figures, mythical creatures, and extinct animals.  So amazing!

GIVEAWAY! 

Safari Ltd has offered to give one of my readers their choice of replica toy and if you're following them on at least one of their social media sites, you will get another surprise toy!  Enter below by May 7th at 11pm anyone's time.  I'll choose a winner the next day. 

You Can Find Safari Ltd. On:

Facebook
Twitter

Pinterest
Google+ 
Youtube

So tell me... which Safari Ltd. toy do you want most for your kiddos?  Just type any animal in the searchbox and it's bound to pop right up!

Special thanks to the awesome people at Safari Ltd. for providing us with these toys to review!

 

In Honor of Star Wars Day, an Angry Bird Star Wars Toy Giveaway!

May 4th is Star Wars Day!  This year, Hasbro wants you to feel the force with Hasbro toys and games based on the wildly popular ANGRY BIRDS STAR WARS mobile game. These innovative toys and games capture all the launching and destroying fun of the app in physical form, featuring your favorite STAR WARS characters re-imagined as high-flying ANGRY BIRDS and villainous pigs!

My little guy was so excited to get this new ANGRY BIRDSSTAR WARS AT-AT ATTACK BATTLE GAME!  He doesn't even play Angry Birds, but he loves this game. It's meant for ages 5 and up--he is 5, and it's perfect!  While it's meant to be an actual game, it's also very cool for single child play.  My little guy has played with it for hours today!  First, he played outside until the sun went down.  Now, as I write this review, he's got it all set up in the living room.  When I asked him what he likes about it, he said he likes that he can build it.  His favorite of the little action figures is the Luke Skywalker Angry Bird.  

 

Getting ready to play!

The Good Guys: Han Solo Bird, Luke Skywalker Pilot Bird, Rebel Trooper, Luke Skywalker Echo Base Bird, and R2D2

 

Stack, launch, and destroy with the AT-AT ATTACK BATTLE GAME, which includes 21 blocks to create the signature AT-AT, a LIGHTSABER LAUNCHER and 12 ANGRY BIRDS STAR WARS figures — including two that are exclusive to this set! 

GIVEAWAY! YAY!
Enter below by May 3rd at 11pm anyone's time.  I'll choose a winner on Star Wars Day, May 4th.  In the meantime, may the fourth be with you.  ;)

You Can Find Hasbro On:

Twitter

Facebook

Special thanks to the awesome people at Hunter PR and Hasbro for providing us with these toys to review and giveaway in exchange for our honest opinion. 

Book Giveaways: An Important Update & LOTS of Giveaways!

I've noticed that many of you who follow my blog by e-mail enter my book giveaways here, but not at my Book Shelf.  I'm madly in love with books and have the opportunity to give away a ton of them in the near future but I don't want to bog down my blog's homepage.  For that reason, I'll be posting most of my book giveaways at Our Book Shelf from now on.  While there is a tab here, those of you who follow by e-mail won't be able to see when I post new book giveaways there.  So if you'd like to continue to enter most of my book giveaways, pretty please sign up for the Book Shelf "follow by e-mail" as well.  You can find it here or by clicking the tab that says "Our Book Shelf".  

Thanks ladies, and have a very blessed and beautiful week!

Win a "One Year Bible"! Winner's Choice of NLT or NIV

This year, I began a one year bible reading plan.  At church, our pastor preached a stirring message on reading your whole bible and my hubby and I set out to do it.  I've read so much that I'd never read before and it's exciting!  My great grandma, who is in Heaven now, used to say the bible is "God's love letter to us" and truly it is.  I've been seeing things I'd never seen before, and God has revealed Himself to me in new ways this year.

The One Year Bible helps people read through the entire Bible in as little as 20 minutes a day with daily readings from the Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs. It's very awesome and I hope that by giving a copy away, one of you will be very blessed and will know God better because of it.  The winner will be able to pick either the New International Version or the New Living Translation, both of which make God's word very easy to understand.

This is a fast one!  Enter below by 5/1 at 11 pm anyone's time.  I'll choose a winner the next morning!

The Golden Age of Hollywood, and a Captivating Book Series Giveaway

Film still from "The Artist"

I am currently smitten with Hollywood's Golden Age. It's such an interesting time period in our country's history, and one I hadn't considered until recently.  Earlier this week, I watched the silent movie "The Artist" on Netflix.  It was made in 2011, and it was brilliant!  It's one of my new favorite movies.  Sound was used during just the right times, expression was important and dynamic, and the storyline was fantastic.  The movie tells the story of the decline of the silent movie era, and the rise of the "talkie".   It was very interesting, had the perfect touch of romance and history, and the ending pulled everything together brilliantly.  I highly recommend that you see it if you haven't already!  It was the perfect movie to see after reading "Duchess".

When her country needs her, will she have the courage to surrender her glittering world and her one true love?

This book took me by surprise by how absolutely amazing it was!  It wasn't your average feel-good historical fiction.  It was captivating and challenging.  The book's heroine, Roxy, changed from a spoiled young woman into a woman who would risk her life for others, "others" who happened to be Jews fleeing danger even before World War II began.  I've never read a book that took place in the 1930's before nor The Golden Age of Hollywood.  It was a wonderful premise for an intriguing read.  

When Roxy loses everything, she finds herself disgraced and penniless. Her only hope is to join forces with Belgian duke Rolfe Van Horne, a longtime film investor. But Rolfe is not who he seems, and he has other plans for Roxy and her movies-plans to support a growing unrest in Europe, plans that could break her heart and endanger her life. 

This book is the third in the Daughters of Fortune series.  I have not read the first 2 books in this series and still thoroughly enjoyed this one.  That being said, the other two books Heiress. Baroness sound equally amazing.

Purchase your own copy of Duchess here.  It will be $10 well spent, I assure you!

Click the pic below to enter the giveaway!
One “glam” winner will receive:

• A brand new Kindle Fire
• Signed copies of Duchess, Baroness and Heiress

Enter today by clicking the photo below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on May 4th. Winner will be announced on 5/7/13 at Susan’s blog.

   

The Gift of Grandparenting, A Book Giveaway Especially for Grandparents

I've noticed so many of my readers commenting about their grandchildren so I wanted to offer a giveaway that could be a blessing especially to them. Of course, this book would also make a wonderful gift for a mom or dad who is also a grandparent.  

From passing on the family history and imparting spiritual wisdom to sharing special times and fun activities, The Gift of Grandparenting encourages grandparents to take an active role in creating strong spiritual and emotional family ties. Whether the grandchildren live around the corner or around the country, this book gives every grandparent new ways to enjoy the marvelous gift of grandparenting.

“There is no greater joy or higher privilege than to be a grandparent. Read this wonderful book to laugh, weep, and plan to be a greater grandparent than ever. I commend it fully.” —Adrian Rogers

“Well-researched, well-written and greatly appreciated homespun advice flows from this loving heart of a grandfather on every page.” —Woodrow Kroll 

“Filled with tips, tidbits, and insight for a modern world, Eric Wiggin’s The Gift of Grandparenting should be on every family bookshelf.” —Angela Hunt, Novelist

Giveaway!
Enter below by May 7th.  I'll choose a winner the next morning via Random.org.
In the meantime, check out all of our other great book giveaways at Our Book Shelf.