God Gave Us You Book Review

This is the second book I have reviewed written by Lisa Tawn Bergren and I am now officially a faithful fan of hers. This is an amazing children's book. The illustrations were done by Laura J. Bryant and they are amazing as well. Here's a bit of a description about the book:

A baby polar bear cub climbs into bed and asks her Mama Bear where she came from. The Mama bear tells her how much she was wanted and how much they love her. Then she lovingly responds "God gave us you" She then goes on to explain some of the events leading up to her baby cubs birth such as how excited both her and the cubs Papa Bear was, how they prepared for her, etc. Then Mama Bear goes on to tell how happy they were at her arrival.

The story was very well put and covers one of the most basic questions that all children ask at one time or another which is "Where did I come from?".  It provides a simple explanation to this answer and details the love, tenderness, and excitement that leads up to a baby's birth. The pictures were also very engaging, and as it is a board book it is great for younger children that love to turn pages themselves. It's also great for infants since they are very curious and like to grab pages. Although the baby cub in the story is a girl it isn't really gender based and both boys and girls can enjoy it. I read this book to both my children, both boys, ages 3 1/2 & 7 months. They enjoy it very much and comment on the story as well as the pictures. It is a very heart-warming book, and let's the child know what wonderful gifts from God they truly are. It's perfect for naptime, bedtime, or anytime really.
All in all it is a very fantastic book and I would recommend it to anyone with younger children. To find more out about this book you can CLICK HERE



Disclaimer:
Waterbrook Multnomah Publishers has provided me with a complimentary copy of this book for review purposes. All opinions expressed are mine alone.

Happy Fall Season!

Well, around our house fall has officially begun. We have most of our decorations out on our patio, as well as in the house. I love this season! It is my favorite season, although I could ask for a BIT warmer weather. The weather in my neck of the woods has been rainy, dreary, and cold. Needless to say most of our time has been spent indoors. BUT...we are still having lots of fun, and my days are still jam packed. I home school Lucas mornings Mon, Tue, Thurs, and Fri. He will be going to public school on Wednesdays once a week starting in a couple of weeks. I still need to get his supplies. My husband likes to wait until last minute on things whereas I want to get stuff as soon as I know we need it. I love this season, the holidays, the food, the decorating. What is your favorite part of the fall season?

A local store by us is going out of business and I took the opportunity to grab a few Christmas gifts for the boys. I will be looking around for some deals from now until then, and what I can't help participating in is Black Friday. I look forward to it. It is hectic and crazy, but you just can't beat the prices. Some people think I am crazy for participating in the madness, but when I get home and unload all my money saver finds I go back to bed happy. Last year I scored a kid tough camera for Lucas that he still plays with today. That thing still works great and it has been through all kinds of hardships (he is almost four so you can imagine). It was regular 40 or 50 dollars and I got it for 25. It was one of the things Lucas wanted most last year. My mom usually stays overnight on Thanksgiving and then she sits with the kids while we are gone. Truthfully they don't even know we are gone as they are asleep when we leave, and still so when we get back which gives us time to stash the gifts. Which brings me to a question I would like to pose to you...Where do you stash your kids Christmas gifts so they don't find them? I know this can be especially hard for those with older kids who actually know to look for something.

We are planning a trip to the pumpkin patch soon enough. They sure aren't what they use to be when I was a kid. The prices are a bit high for my taste, but it's tradition and the kids have so much fun that we just can't say no. However what we did last year is we let the kids pick a small pumpkin since the larger ones were around eighteen dollars apiece, that way they got to pick a pumpkin out, and then we went to the grocery store to get a big one. If your lucky there are some farmers that have signs who sell their pumpkins for a decent price. We found a place like this last year, but by the time we got there to pick our pumpkin all the good ones had been picked through.

Anyway God Bless you all and have a good day. I must get back to my daily chores. I have some great upcoming recipes to share, but blogger is taking forever to load the pictures so I will try back again later. If you haven't already, you should enter to win my prefense hand sanitizer giveaway. It truly is amazing stuff, and safe for kids. You can google Prefense to find out more or visit their website. You can also read my own review of it (link is below). It's been featured on news channels before as well. 12 days left to enter. Simply leave a comment on my review to be entered. Extra entries aren't mandatory, but there are ways to gain extra entries and they are listed in my blog review. And if you want your blog featured on my Double Feature Blog Friday leave your name and blog address in a comment. Good luck, have a blessed day!

http://the-edge-of-the-sky.blogspot.com/2011/09/one-spray-lasts-all-day-prefense-review.html

One Spray Lasts All Day- Prefense Review & Giveaway

<a style="display: none;" href="http://www.tomoson.com/?code=TOP1d7444a1af6ea0d1e66e6d838842e13e"><span></span></a>

I received the opportunity to review some PREFENSE hand sanitizer. Having two children under the age of four means I am CONSTANTLY sanitizing my hands. And I am around other small children when my son has play dates. I'm grabbing sippy cups here and there, bottles, cleaning up, changing diapers, cleaning potty accidents, etc. The list goes on and on. Not to mention my hands always feel grimy after shopping and hand sanitizer in the last few years has become one of my best friends. Hand washing just doesn't cut it for me alone anymore. Especially when I am on the go. The one thing I don't like about ordinary hand sanitizers is the alcohol smell. It reminds me of a hospital, and sometimes it even burns my hands. Not to mention sometimes it makes my hands feel a bit sticky until they completely dry and I can't stand to be sticky. But there are so many super bugs and germs in the world that I will forever be sanitizing to keep the germs at bay. That's why PREFENSE is so great! It is so much different that ordinary hand sanitizers! Take a look below...

What really amazes me about this product is that my almost four year old son can use it! Little boys hands always seem to get dirty no matter what they are doing, whether they are playing indoors or out. He is constantly touching things, picking flowers, trying to catch butterflies which results in falling often on hands and knees. And it's safe for him, and I have no worries about using it on him. Plus it lasts for hours so every time he touches something I don't have to freak out! If we are in a grocery store and he puts his hands on the floor to see if it's still cold (something he does every time we go, he calls them freezer tiles) I know he will be safe and fine until we get home because PREFENSE protects for 24 hours or up to 10 hand washings without having to re-apply! I love that there's no skin burning, tingling smell, it makes your hands feel clean after use, and it doesn't dry out my hands! It's silica based so it actually seems to moisturize. I love it!

Here's a bit more info on the product...

    •    Prefense is made of all-natural ingredients and has absolutely NO alcohol in it!
    •    Protects you for 24 hours or 10 hand washings! 
    •    Prefense is non-toxic and safe for kids!

    •    Prefense is silica based which means it doesn’t dry out your hands like traditional alcohol sanitizers.  It actually smooths and softens your hands. You can tell after the first application!

    •    Prefense protects against staph, strep, E.coli, drug resistant MRSA strains, and more.
    •    Because “one spray lasts all day” the 1.5 oz Prefense Foaming Hand Sanitizer offers 120 applications, costing only $.08 per day, compared to $1.20 per day with alcohol hand sanitizers. So you get more bang for your buck and it lasts twice as long!

*see more at their website:  http://www.prefense.com/products/ You can purchase their products at a great price from their website compared to other retailers.

The best part about all of this is that Prefense is giving two lucky readers of Mommy's Musings the chance at getting your own FREE bottle of Prefense Foaming Hand Sanitizer! An 8 oz bottle! That's 640 applications! That could potentially last you 2 years!

There's nothing fancy to enter the giveaway, just simply leave a comment with a VALID email address. The winners will have 48 hours to respond or another winner will be chosen.

To earn EXTRA entries you can do the following:

+2 Follow my blog: Mommy's Musings

+2 Follow me on twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/mommywonderland

+2 Follow PREFENSE on twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/prefense

+1 Like PREFENSE on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/prefense

+1 Tweet about this giveaway

+1 Blog about this giveaway but make sure to leave me your the web address in a comment so I can visit and confirm

That gives you 10 entry opportunities! The odds are good so enter today! ~Open to U.S. Residents only~

I will be running this giveaway from now 09/24/2011 - 10/08/2011. That's 2 weeks. Winners will be chosen at midnight and announced Sunday October 9th, 2011 so no more entries will be accepted after midnight on October 8th, 2011.

Disclaimer:

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Has God Spoken book review

Has God Spoken?
By: Hank Hanegraaff
(Host of Bible Answer Man)


       The first thing besides the cover that grabbed my attention is right under the title Has God Spoken? are the words Proof of the Bible’s Diving Inspiration. I must say the novel did lie. I did quite enjoy this book. It was a bit difficult to read, and took me awhile to get through. Some stuff just went way over my head. I think it would be better suited to a pastor, or bible student. I think it would make a great addition to any Christians library however. It also would make an excellent handbook.
       I loved the fact that this book is all about defending God’s word. The bible is constantly under attack, and there are so many other “bibles” out there. It really puts to question the other bibles, and sheds the inconsistencies found in them. I love books where the novelist argues the bible over science. Science needs an explanation for everything right away, and if there isn’t one then they explain it away. However light is shed on new findings everyday. It completely unveils some major theories which is quite refreshing as a Christian to read.
       It follows along with an acronym system MAPS, which makes it even easier to follow along with, and can prove invaluable throughout the novel.
It is such a clever, researched, and well thought out novel, I have no complaints other than the personal views of the author sometimes can be distracting from the proof he finds and exposes throughout the book. But all in all while a bit of a difficult read for some, would make an excellent read for others. I don’t regret reading this book.
It covers many topics such as (a few examples):
The fact that manuscript copies we have today may not be as reliable as we think they are. Due to copy errors, etc. However he shows how we do still have the Bible as it was centuries ago.
How the Bible tends to prove itself over and over again. What does this mean for future predictions?
How we understand the bible, and how we need to look at the bible.
Evidential finds that prove the bible, such as the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Fantasy Imagery, such as certain apocalyptic passages in scripture. Meaning for example the red dragon with seven heads and ten horns. How this fantasy image doesn’t represent anything in the real world.
How crucial it is to read the bible for all it’s worth, and to read it as literature paying close attention to everything. How the imagery and the text all goes together inspired by the spirit, and how if we read it as literature, but also not as literature what we can absorb from this.There is a Legacy Reading Plan towards the back of the book that can prove helpful, as well as very detailed and helpful notes that you may want to visit throughout your reading.



DISCLAIMER: I was provided this book for free through Thomas Nelson Publishers in exchange for my unbiased review. Opinions expressed are mine alone.

Time Flys By...

I can't believe it is already Saturday! This is the last day of my husband's 10 day vacation. We have spent the entire vacation at home this go around. Our lives are always busy and hectic and we've just taken the time to relax, and enjoy each other's company. It has been great. We are planning a trip for next year to South Carolina and to visit some family in Tennessee. We're waiting until our youngest is off breast-milk and over a year old.

I can also tell that I'm going to be buying a laptop at the end of the year. I have had mine for a number of years, and it is constantly messing up. I'm pretty sure that it has a virus and I need to get it checked out. Depending on how much they tell me it's going to cost to fix it, I will either have it fixed or just buy a new one. It has been taking about 20 minutes to finish booting up, new windows pop up sometimes although not as much as I've seen in the past, it is starting to sometimes type slow, and it won't hold an internet connection even though it sits in the same spot it's always in. This happened once before when I was taking college classes. I had a laptop and it randomly was typing gibberish when I would be trying to type up a paper. I thought it was possessed or something, screens would pop up out of nowhere, all my letters and words would turn to lines and boxes, nothing would save, and files started deleting themselves. When I got it checked the cheapest I could find to get it fixed was for $450, and as electronics always go on sale around Christmas and tax time I bided my time until then and found this Dell Inspiron for only $550. I always keep virus protection and spam protection, but apparently it hasn't much helped. So we shall see what the prices bring. If it's not much more to get a new one I may just do that. If they can fix this one great to. I already know which option my husband is hoping for. I seen him eyeing an ad for Best Buy the other day. I think all guys are electronic obsessed.

Last night me and the hubs went bowling which was pretty awesome. Bowling was technically our first date when we met and it really brought back some good memories. We went with my my sister in law/her fiance', and my brother in law and his wife. The kiddies stayed with my mom so we could have a night out. It was a blast, and it was filled with much jesting and laughter. We had two lanes and decided to see how the girls fared against the guys. It wasn't really a competition, it was just for fun although I have to say if we would've been more serious about the game we totally would've had it from the girls side. hahah. We did pretty good though, and the main thing is we had a lot of fun! We plan to at least get together once a month.
I love my kids, and sometimes I feel guilty about leaving them and doing stuff especially because they are 3 and 6 months, but I can't express how much we need to try and get out and enjoy ourselves as adults. And the need to get out just you and your spouse sometimes as well. This doesn't mean drinking and partying because I don't do either, it just means get out and have some fun with your spouse, friends, family members, etc. Even though we often spend our adult time talking about our children and what antics they have recently been up to it's good for everyone all around to get a little break from each other. We are more than mommies and daddies, or our job titles, we are husband and wife, family, friends, and people who need some time every now and then. And if you don't live near family or someone who can watch your children for a couple of hours, wait until the kids go to sleep, pop some popcorn, and watch a movie together. We need to connect as husband and wife as well.

I know it's a bit late in the day, but there's a couple rummages I plan on checking out today, just waiting until my boys finish their naps, then lunch, then leaving. I have some last minute shopping to do before hubby goes back to work, and I'm going to decorate our porch in fall and Halloween while my husband and sons fly the panda bear kite. (I bought a $12 kite at Meijer for my son for only $1.75! It's cloth with tails and it flys amazingly).

Also, my three year old starts preschool! I have been homeschooling him, and I do plan on continuing to do so, but he needs some speech therapy. I have been doing all I can and we have worked out the letters, now it's just certain sounds. I was going to continue in working with him myself, but he told me that he wanted to be with other kids after we drove by a school and he seen the children walking into the building. He keeps calling them his kids. LOL It's a bit late in the year for him to be going to classes, but they couldn't schedule him in until late. In our town there is only one place that offers speech therapy for preschoolers and they are always booked! His evaluation wasn't until late even, and other children will be starting at the same time as him. He will only go for three hours, one day a week. He is extremely excited and we meet his teacher next week, plus he gets his cubby, etc. They treat it as preschool, and they have a supply list, cubbies, play time (for like 15 minutes), etc. I didn't really want to send him to school, but I do think it will be good for him, and I plan on teaching him the rest of the week here at home. As time goes on we will see which one he benefits from most. I am reluctant to let go. I can't believe he will be four in just a month and a half! Time flies by! And my other boy is already six months old! It seems like I just had him yesterday! I will never get use to this. I wish I could just stop the clock for a little while...but at least I can replay the memories in my head. I feel very blessed, and thankful to God. And thankful to you all for reading my ramblings on here.  :)

Have a great and blessed day!

Tori

Double Feature Friday!

It's time for double feature blog Friday again! I have chosen two very awesome blogs for this week's features. I hope you check them out and look into following.

        

Pokey Pig's Picnic

Pokey Pig’s Picnic
By: Polly G. Young
Illustrated by: Janet Y. Raymond


     This creative children’s book is all about Pokey Pig and his pals. There is Proud Peter Peacock, Plump Pammy Partridge, and many others. They make a delicious picnic of everything involving the letter P from pop, popsicles, pastries, etc.
     It was a wonderful, warm, friendly story and it is perfect for children of all ages. How clever to add all the words that start with the letter P and combine them all into a magical story that fits so well together! The characters are just as witty as can be! The pictures are so engaging as well, and so detailed. After reading a children’s book, many times my son will start to parse the pictures and he will begin to notice not only the main character of the page, but the background as well. He loved that he could see jars in a box, or dishes in a cabinet. We really enjoyed this read! It is now actually a favorite of ours. Mainly talking in words starting with the letter P, and as my son does have some issues still with certain letters I will say that by the end of this book the P’s did seem more clear when he spoke them. Now he helps me read along. Since reading it for the first time he has had me read it every single night at bedtime.
     I read usually two-three books at bedtime and this is his first choice every night. It pleases me he likes it so much. It’s whimsical, and a really fun tongue twister which when reading it together makes you laugh out loud at times with joy. It’s sort of like reading a cartoon, and it is a very engaging book! I think it is a brilliant children’s book, and we were definitely not disappointed in anything what-so-ever. Everything meshes well together, and it doesn’t go off topic at all. It is by far one of the best children’s books I have had the pleasure of reading since Dr. Seuss! And for us Dr. Seuss is a huge part of our household both in cartoons, movies, and novels so that is saying a lot. I plan to buy one for each of the young ones in our family. It will make a great Christmas gift, and I just know they will love it.

If you would like to purchase your copy, you can visit: DORRANCE
　
Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book as a member of the Dorrance Publishing Book Review Team in exchange for my unbiased review. All opinions expressed are mine alone

Mercy's Chances

Mercy Come Morning
By: Lisa Tawn Bergren
　
I had the opportunity to review Mercy Come Morning by Lisa Tawn Bergren. It has previously been published under another title, Christmas Every Morning.
The cover and synopsis drew me to this novel, and I just had to find the story behind the cover.
I have never read a novel such as this one. I felt such emotions through this book, and by the end I was crying. I am not easily moved, but I was so swept up in this novel I couldn‘t contain certain emotions.
The main character, Krista Mueller, receives a call from the care center her Alzheimer mother resides in. She is told her mother only has a few weeks at most and she needs to come back ASAP. Krista is very reluctant to return to her hometown of Taos, New Mexico. Her longtime old friend, (and childhood sweetheart) and care center owner, Dane McConnell urges her back. expressing the importance and explaining they found something that she needs to see in her mother’s room.
Hesitantly Krista returns to her hometown as well as to her mother’s side. She can’t but help to hope everything is all over with soon enough as she doesn’t want to be there, and she can’t stir up the emotions a mother and daughter SHOULD feel for one another. If that isn’t bad enough she can’t let herself feel emotions towards Dane even though he clearly tries to connect with her.
As she starts to read an old diary of sorts that her mother kept in a Christmas carol book, she starts to see a side of her mother that she never would’ve thought her capable. As the story switches back from Krista’s past and present as well as her mother’s personal entries she finds herself reassessing her entire life and all of her past. God has always been a presence in her life, but can He help her to truly forgive not only a bitter mother she never understood, an old flame who keeps trying to re-ignite their passion, but herself as well? Because of such a troubled past will she ever be able to open the part of her heart that she thought would forever be closed?
I loved the fact that this book made me feel as if I was there in person. I truly have no complaints about this novel at all. It would particularly make a good Christmas gift as it is centered around the holiday, and the message it reveals is a great one. It sends off a great message of forgiveness, and never giving up on God even through the most challenging of times. It shows if we let God lead us, we will end up exactly where we should be, no matter how far off the path we have gotten. It is a fantastic story of redemption as well, and not one I will forget anytime soon.

If you want a copy you can get one HERE


Disclaimer:
Waterbrook Multnomah Publishers has provided me with a complimentary copy of this book for review purposes. All opinions expressed are mine alone.

DOUBLE FEATURE BLOG FRIDAY!

It's time for our first Double Feature Blog Friday! I'm so excited about this! If you are interested in participating and having your blog featured the next friday please leave a comment with your blog address below (optional-also put what color you would like to have your "blog ticket" just incase your blog is featured, and I would be more than happy to take a look. So without further ado:

http://supermomgrace.blogspot.com/

http://raisingastorm.blogspot.com/

                                                                  



New Blog Hop Double Features! Coming Soon!

Starting every Friday I am going to be starting a "Blog Hop Double Feature", if you are interested in having your blog featured just leave me a comment.
I will occasionally be browsing through my followers as well checking out their blogs and scouring the web. I enjoy reading others blogs, in particular mom blogs, it really helps mothers connect and it is such a great way to learn new things. After all we moms have to stick together. I have picked up some awesome recipes that others have posted on their blogs, as well as gained helpful information.
In particular this blog hop can be helpful to moms who review products because some companies will only allow you to review products based on the number of followers you have.
So as I enjoy reading blogs and helping others I figure this is a win win situation for us all. Just wanted to let all the readers of Mommy's Musings in on what is to come. If you know any blogs that need more exposure but don't get a lot of followers please send them my way, and feel free to send popular blogs my way as well. After all, I understand it can be a bit difficult to get your blog off the ground sometimes, there are some amazing blogs out there that just aren't getting enough exposure. Cornily put it's a "blog eat blog world"
So hopefully my readers will enjoy this, I know I'm looking forward to it for sure! Here is a bit of a preview:

Have a great and blessed day!

The Peaceful Housewife's Review/Giveaway

I will admit that I'm not always "green". However I have two boys under the age of 4 and after they came along more and more I think about all the chemicals that are in our everyday items that we don't even think about. That's why I was more than pleased to get the chance to review:

The Peaceful Housewife's Natural Household Cleaner Recipe's e-book.

Also let me apologize in advance for SOME reason blogger will not allow me to upload the picture, but if you follow that link you can check out more about it.

Generally I don't review e-books, but this one caught my attention, and I am always intrigued on how to make my very own anything particularly cleaners, etc. Let me just say that this book went beyond my expectations. I was honestly assuming hard to make cleaners with items that I would have to specially go out and buy in bulk, therefore spending more than actually buying something store-bought. But boy was I wrong. Most of the ingredients for most of the cleaners I already had in my home. There was a couple things I did have to go out and buy, but it didn't cost hardly anything and after researching the items a bit I can use them for so much more! There are over 30 cleaners in here for everything from laundry soap, stain removers, fabric softner, dish washing detergent, etc. My favorite in here is the Spray Stain Treatment. It is amazing! Let me just give you a hint on why this one is my favorite (without giving away any spoilers of course). We all know that diapers do not always hold in the wonderful number two blowouts that babies can produce. (Sorry if I'm grossing you out right about now, but my fellow momma's know what I'm talking about). Well while sitting in his carseat he had to go number two and not only did the poo blow out the side of his diaper but up his back as well. It was everywhere and it happened when he was wearing his new light blue overall outfit that grandma bought. He was so cute in it, and while I have usually been able to get these stains out by treating them right away this one was stubborn and wouldn't come out. So I tried the Peaceful Housewife's Spray Stain Treatment and my goodness it worked wonders! It came all the way out! I was so impressed! While I haven't tried all of the products in there yet, I have tried a few. It is brilliant to say the least. A few of the recipes I knew about but the ones that I didn't are proving to be so very helpful in my household.

So without me prattling on further The Peaceful Housewife is allowing the readers of Mommy's Musings to have a chance at winning this wonderful helpful ebook! I will be running the contest for a week. Winners will be chosen September 11th, 2011. I will be posting a blog congratulating the winners as well as e-mailing them with their confirmation. All you have to do is:

1) Like Mommy's Musings on FACEBOOK click here 

2) Follow me on TWITTER click here

3) If you aren't already a follower, follow my blog in which you are reading. Right hand side.

4) Check out The Peaceful Housewife's website.

5) Leave a comment below letting me know that you did all of the above. After you have done all of this you can leave a comment on this blog post once a day. This will give you more of a chance to win. I will be using a Random number generator. 2 lucky winners will be chosen. Good luck!


AND...if you just can't wait for the giveaway to end and you want this ebook right away you can purchase it at The Peace Housewife's Shop.



DISCLAIMER: Opinions expressed are mine alone.
I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Free Chick-fil-e Breakfast!

Chick-fil-e is offering free breakfast reservations for a short time, only from September 6 – 10, 2011. There are only so many that remain available so go ahead and reserve yours today! Me and the Hubby reserved ours, and as the chick-fil-e closest to us has an awesome indoor playground after we all eat my son can play and have fun. I have never had chick-fil-e breakfast but we have had lunch there before and the chicken is divine. For my breakfast choice I chose the chicken, egg, and cheese sunflower multigrain bagel. Sounds sooo good!

So if your interested just CLICK HERE   There are no strings attatched and you don't have to complete any other offers to get this free breakfast. Simply choose the location closest to you, choose the date and time offered that works best, choose your entree, enter your info, and the reservation is emailed to you and ready to be printed. Enjoy!