Praises of a Wife and Mommy

So have you heard of Bundles and Buzz ?  I wanted the best description so I took this from their facebook site: Description Do you love surprises? Us too! We are thrilled to bring you all the latest products, samples, gift cards and coupon codes for mom and baby in "The Bundles". We only stock a few times a month, but when we do you had better have fast fingers because they sell out fast! Be sure to sign up for our e-newsletter "The Buzz" to be the first to know when the exclusive Bundles stock! www.bundlesandbuzz.com Business interested in participating please visit  www.bundlesandbuzz.com , create an account and email us at bundles@bundlesandbuzz.com asking us to 'create business access'. We will be in touch shortly after.      My Thoughts: COOL!?!  What a great way for a mom and her children to get new products.  It is a little surprise each time you order one as you never know what you might receive.  :) One of the really neat things about this

Beautifully BellaFaith and over 160 blogs have put together an awesome gift card giveaway for everyone to enter. Not only will one lucky person WIN a $100 Amazon gift card , but they will also win a $50 Victoria's Secret gift card AND a $50 Target OR Walmart gift card .  This giveaway is open worldwide. You must be 18 or older to enter. It will begin May 30th and end June 7th. There will be NO substitutions for any of the gift cards.  I realize that there are quite a few entries, so I included an end bonus! The more entries you have...the more of a chance you have to WIN!  Enter below using the Rafflecopter widget. If you have any problems, please e-mail littleamberfaith@yahoo.com. Winner will have 48 hours to respond before another will be drawn. You do NOT have to be a blogger to enter OR win. Good luck!!  a Rafflecopter giveaway

On Memorial Day our family walked up the smaller mountain we have here in Wisconsin.  :)  It was a great family walk and fun picnic at the top of a beautiful view: As we started the hike back down we turned our walk to a run.  After we got half way down my daughter requested to run with us.  She impressed both my husband and myself.  She ran and ran and her coordination was great!!  :)  I was so thrilled!  She was running in sandals and a dress so I knew a shopping trip was in store for us to find running shoes and outfit for her!  3 hours of searching for the right shoes this is what we found: After we got home she immediately put it on.  We waited and waited for daddy to arrive home.  I absolutely enjoyed my husbands enthusiasm when he saw his daughter.  He was so encouraging and full of compliments.  :)  It melted my heart.... I love him so much, and I adore watching him being a daddy.  :)  Soon after the hubby and I had to change because Selah was anxiously waiting to go for a

About God Bless this Home: In this wonderful story Mama and Papa bear start discussing needing a bigger house since the family has outgrown the small cozy tree house.  When Mama and Papa Bear talk to Brother and Sister Bear they were very reluctant to move from the home they know best.  Will the Bear family move or come up with a different way to expand the tree house to make more room. The Bear family finds the needs of each person in the family and then discuss how to create the room they need.  Some of the needs include: Honey Bear needs her own room and Papa Bear needs a place to protect his car from the snow. God Bless Our Home  evokes the true meaning of home, sweet home illustrates the importance of working together as a family.  Young readers will learn that a house does not have to be big, beautiful, or expensive because every home is filled with the blessings of God. My Review: I have said it before but I absolutely love finding books that leave my kids with a good Bi

I drew some shapes with different colors on the side walk and then we had a racing game.  Who could find the color or the shape the fastest.  The girls did a great job and kept friendly competition which surprised me!  :)  After the girls got tired of that game we changed it up.  I would call out a command such as "do five jumping jacks on a triangle." Then they were getting some good exercise within practicing shapes.   We also did some practice drawing the shapes.  :)  

Go vote for my son in the Parents Photo contest:   http://photos.parents.com/parents-cover-contest-2012/22/2012/1432?esrc=nwphotofaves_pmcover12 I REALLY APPRECIATE IT!  :) THANK-YOU

 I had a happy camper waving the Red, White, and Blue Flag. Saturday we had a Memorial Day parade and both kids had fun but it was fun seeing many veterans in their uniforms!   Thank you men and women for serving our country!!   "ONE NATION UNDER GOD"   Hope you are having a fantastic weekend!  

I actually made these hand-prints with my children back in December and I finally sat down and painted them.  I was going to have my daughter paint her's but after I did my sons I just kept going because I absolutely love them! It will be a hand print I will keep forever!   Recipe  4 cups all-purpose  flour 1 cup salt 1 1/2 cups warm water Bake for about an hour at 325* Last Christmas we made fun ornaments and I let Selah have a ton of fun painting them.  We did make these hand-prints then too but we never finished them.   You have so many possibilities to create something  neat with salt dough and the best part is it will not break your bank!  You can make a keepsake like these hand-print ones for Father's Day, Mother's Day, Birthday's, Christmas, or any other special event. Click HERE to check out our Christmas Ornaments from last year

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of éclos Skin Care for SocialSpark . All opinions are 100% mine. Have you heard of  éclos Skin Care ?  This new product is made from using plant stem cells and that helps us look younger!  How neat is that?  The also benefit of Eclos includes: No synthetic fragrances, No parabens, No synthetic dyes, No sulfates, and NO petro-chemicals.  I was a happy camper when I read that!  It is hard to find a product that is not filled with all of this junk that is harmful to us!  So two thumbs up for the healthy formula of this product.   Included in the  éclos Skin Care  is: -Facial Cleanser- Skin prep This will extend skin cell longeivty, purify pores, and prime the skin for the rest of the treatment.   -Cellular Activator- Facial Serum  The facial serum will regenerate skin cells, rehab aging skin, and help to prevent further damage.   -Restorative Eye Cream-   The eye cream will slow

Each month it seems to be a bigger challenge at getting a good picture.  My lil guy is a mover, a climber, and a happy boy.  :)  He got 2 more teeth in the last month!  He is a very slow teether and they seem to bother him for few days on each tooth.  It makes for a tired momma!   Great news!  He finally slept through the night!  Took forever but he did it and I know many more sleeping nights are in our future.  :)  YAY!   His favorite thing to do right now climb, drive his car, chase his puppy, annoy his sister, and cuddle with his mommy.  :) I am one blessed mom to have such a fun boy.  

Do you have a pet?   Do you teach responsibilities to your children with the pet?   Yesterday we went out walking and this time I made my daughter walk our dog.  She needed to learn a few things but she did great.   The best part is she loves this responsibility!  

I was able to snag this cute flower bench for $5.00.  Sadly, I forgot to take a before picture so here is the after picture.  Just picture it solid deep red... it was nice just kinda boring.  So I painted it  and planted some pretty flowers.  The colors actually do match my children's patio chairs.  :)  The hubby was not very fond of the colors since he is more of a earth tone type of guy but it was all painted when he came home from work.  So do you think it is too bright? 

Good news, have been maintaining my weight loss!  WOOT WOOT!!  Still want to continue to lose a little more and tone a ton  more!  :)  Anyways, my clothes do not fit anymore!  Which is a great problem to have but at the same time when I don't want to spend a fortune on clothes it  kinda sucks too.  :(  After moving and working on our garden I really did not want to spend much on myself.   As I was driving to get groceries I somehow found myself at a consignment store.  :)  I was with both kids so it can be quite a challenge trying to dig around when they had no interest in helping mom shop.  Even with the distractions of children I managed to snag some really amazing deals!  :)  I found a great Addidas workout top that I have been wanting to buy since January and got it for $5.50!  I had priced them out and usually they are $25 and up!  :) Then I found a cute pair of American Eagle shorts for $4.63.  The next deal was Calvin Klien jeans for $6.00 and they had tags on!  The ne

OK mommy's lets admit the fact that we need to turn that TV on every now and again to get something done around the house and just get the kids out of the mess!  For example both my husband and I got the flu at the same time so yes the TV was on most of that day.  :(  There are so many show's out there that get our kids attention but is it educational?  I really do not allow my kid to sit in front of the TV for hours upon hours but there are times when we just need to kick back with our kids.   I want to introduce you to "Snapatoonies!"  Have you heard of them?  Snapatoonies was created by to mum's Lee and Jordi (Aussie mom's or mum's)  Here is a little more about them and why they wanted to create Snapatoonies: "We wanted them to have a head start on learning.  Kids can absorb and learn so much while they are little.  Snapatoonies is about building on that learning platform to give them the essential skills for success. Excited as we were about the c

I've teamed up with Embracing Beauty to giveaway a Kindle Fire to one lucky reader. This is a great gadget for anyone on your gift-giving list, including Dad! Whether you're a social media addict, book lover, or avid blog reader, this is one product you'll love to own! Kindle Fire, Full Color 7″ Multi-touch Display, Wi-Fi - RV: $199 Movies, apps, games, music, reading and more, plus Amazon’s revolutionary, cloud-accelerated web browser Over 20 million movies, TV shows, songs, magazines, and books Thousands of popular apps and games, including Netflix, Hulu Plus, Pandora, and more Ultra-fast web browsing – Amazon Silk Free cloud storage Vibrant color touchscreen with extra-wide viewing angle Fast, powerful dual-core processor Favorite children’s books, graphic novels, and magazines in rich color Amazon Prime Members enjoy unlimited, instant streaming on thousands of popular movies and TV shows. Amazon Prime Members choose from over a hundred thousand books to

So I was so ________ ??  I can't even think of the right word.  I was impressed, excited, thrilled, scared??  So many emotions as I thought about it really!  What am I talking about you wonder??   Well, on Sunday I was throwing a friend a baby shower and at her shower we had about 8 girls ranging from 7-11 years old.  They still were playing the games I had planned which I was excited I planned games that they were able to play.   One game we were playing was a trivia game.  It was called "Baby Animal's"  in which I would call out an animal and the guests would have to give me the name of their offspring.  ie cat-kitten, dog-puppy, deer-fawn...etc etc.  There were a few that were very challenging that I knew I would never have gotten right.   I look back at the girls who were working hard on this more challenging game and one girl asks, "is it ok if I use my phone for help?"   LOL, outsmarting some of us older ladies these young guns were ready t

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Whitney Farms for SocialSpark . All opinions are 100% mine. With the weather being awesome this weekend I hope the hubby and I can squeeze sometime into creating a little garden!  :)  I have never planted a garden before but I am really looking forward to having some of my own homegrown foods.  :)  I would love to have some fresh fruit and veggies.   We are going to try to grow peas, cucumbers, pumpkins, watermelon, tomatoes.  Sure hope we do well! :)  We only have a small space where I want the garden but I think it will work, I am going to take some of the current flowers out and give them to someone else so I can grow some veggies instead.   If I had a bigger yard this would be my dream garden:  Not only do we have to buy some tools but also some  organic plant food  and maybe even  organic soil .  I am a newbie at this but might as well go organic right?  

Back in November the whole family was hit with the flu bug but now again in May??  It is not fair to get the flu bug once warm weather comes.   On Thursday last week my daughter woke up sick but she seemed back to her normal self in just a few short hours.  On Saturday we were heading to the YMCA for a workout when my son threw up in his car seat.  :(  It was a huge mess and so stinky that my daughter was plugging her nose.  We pulled over to a gas station got him all cleaned up and headed back home.  He took a great nap and we went for a  walk which maybe was not a good idea since he ended up throwing up a big more.  :(   Then Sunday came... the day I had to throw a baby shower.  The shower did go well... Praise the Lord! The last half of the shower my stomach really started to hurt.   Thankfully one of the ladies offered to finish cleaning and lock up the church!  :) Well, I got home and my husband who was with the kids told me he was not feeling well and wanted to get some fresh air

The carnival was in town this weekend!  :)  My daughter had some fun on a few rides, and my son went on one too.  :)  I enjoyed watching my children have fun but next time I think I am getting on the Tilt-O-Whirl... best ride ever!  :)  I also did well and ate no fair food...i secretly really really wanted cotton candy!  I bet my husband was surprised I never asked for it!  I still really really want it though.  LOL

I had seen some adorable footprint butterflies on Pintrest so I knew I wanted to do them with my 2 children.   I did not buy flower pots for this activity.  I reused some containers that we got from Wal-Mart when we ordered some food to-go.  :)   After we cleaned to containers I put some blue paint inside and attached the lid and let my daughter shake it around till it was covered.   After the inside paint dried I took the kids outside and tried my best to get some cute foot prints.  Selah was giggling when I painted her feet because she is so ticklish.  Then Titus was crying because low and behold he is afraid of paint.  So a fun activity had a lot of drama involved but I still think they turned out adorable.  :)   This was also a present for Mother's Day... Nana is coming to visit us in June so shhhhh... "it's still a secret."   :) 

With the warm weather here means we are outside walking, biking, skipping, dancing, jumping, running.  With all the activities comes the small accidents with cuts, scrapes, bruises, and a little bleeding.  :(   That brought us to Mother's Day when we were all outside enjoying the weather and the new puppy.  My daughter was running and down she fell.  Her reactions: screaming, crying, not walking because of her little boo boo's.  She threw a fit when I tried to clean it and she remained on the couch for at least an hour because she was still "in pain."  I thought it was a typical reaction for a 4 year old girl.   Then about 2 hours later my son falls and scrapes his leg.  His reaction: a tiny whimper cry for maybe 3 seconds.  He was bleeding more then his sister was and he then he was ready to go back and play before I could even pick him to bring him in to clean it.   I really witnessed a tough boy (almost 14 months) compared with my 4 year old sensitive swee

I have teamed up with  Be Rich Be Frugal  to present to you this wonderful review and giveaway of Skinny Water. If you're looking for the perfect sports drink that will thoroughly quench your thirst, this is the drink for you. Read on for the full review..... Here's the skinny: (Review not written by Praises of a Wife and Mommy) I have never been keen on drinking energy drinks, diet drinks, or anything along those lines. It's not that I am protesting against them, it's just that every time I decide to give it a try, it is always a disappointment in the flavor department. Honestly, they all taste like watered down juice to me. Nice try. As many times as I have been disappointed, I have still kept on with my search for the right sports drink that I can truly enjoy. I don't drink soda so my sweet go-to thirst quencher is juice. Although it is a better alternative, the amount of sugar that juice contains is still rather high. If there is a diet/sports drink that

At 5 a.m I was out of bed after hearing a crying lil girl.  She had thrown up in her bed...:(  After getting her cleaned up and back in bed only a few minutes later she was in the bathroom where she almost made it to the toilet.  :(   It is now 9am and she is eating some breakfast and cuddled with Kiah for about an hour and she seems to be doing much better!  Kiah was actually sleeping like that on Selah.  :) Thank you Jesus for healing my spunky sweetie! :) 

My daughter just finished her 2nd year of AWANA.  She has such a fun time each week going and looks forward to it every week.  I love how much of the Word of God she has memorized and I love how excited she it to memorize it.  :) We sure are blessed with great adults who like to work with children in our church.  :)  If  you see her cute blue vest it has a lot of patches from finishing her work but this mom fell a bit behind on sewing them on...oops!  Her vest should be 100% full!  :)  :)  

Honey Bunches of Oats is one of America's favorite cereals-and  now it is even better!  They added more of the delicious granola bunches to each box. Each serving has: 10 grams of Whole Grain 0g trans fat 0g Saturated fat 0mg cholesterol Provides 9 essential vitamins and minerals Brings together 4 nutritious grains My Review: I was thrilled to receive a box from Post to conduct a review since everyone in the family LOVES it!  I mean I really did not need a free box to do a review, in the last month I think we have gone through 4 boxes, 4 people in the family and 4 boxes of Honey Bunches of Oats.  :)  My two children both seem to enjoy eating it for breakfast or a snack.  My 13 month old eats it dry while my 4 year old has hers with milk.  The Honey Bunches has been my favorite for a long time but now they offer two new "fruit blends" one is a peach and strawberry and the other is banana and blueberry.   I am pretty sure I will be trying those out soon! It is

  One of my daughter's favorite things to do is pick Dandelions and give them to me.  (I am so blessed)  As she handed them to me on Mother's Day I had a flash back to my childhood to  something my mom and I did.   We would rip the flower off and then take the stem and peel it apart in as many long pieces as possible.  After peeling the stem you place them in a bucket of water and watch them curl up!  It is fun and really awesome to watch.  :)  Now go have fun and pick some Dandelions and then make them curly and swirly!  :) 

So far things are  going great with a puppy in the house.  She has only had one accident in the house and every time I take her outside she immediately goes potty!  GOOD GIRL!  Titus was giggly today and playing nicely with her and Selah wants to be a little mommy to the puppy and I have to keep telling her "put Kiah down."