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This post is sponsored by LeapFrog. All opinions are 100% my own.

Hi friends!

Has November been crazy for you? It's been crazy for us! I think this time of year just moves in double speed.

The snow arrived yesterday. Boo. I'm sitting here watching flakes fall from the sky outside my window. Nothing is accumulating yet, but it's coming. We live in an apartment with no playground nearby, so getting active play in can be tricky on a good day. Add in the cold weather and it gets even harder! Impossible? No. But an every day occurance? Probably not. That is why I love to have a good arsenal of indoor active play ideas.

Good thing LeapFrog has me covered!

Creating Simple Holiday Traditions and GIVEAWAY

This shop has been compensated by #collectivebias, Inc. and its advertiser. 

All opinions are mine alone. #northpolefun

Hi friends!

I'm talking about Christmas today.

I KNOW!

It's coming whether you're ready or not, so we might as well pretend like we're ready, right? Right.

I love holiday traditions. There is something comforting about knowing that in all the chaos that can come with the holidays, there are some things that are the same every year. We didn't get to do a lot of our holiday traditions last year because we were still trying to find normal. I want to get back to them this year! Every year for all of my life we have had advent calendars. You know those German cardboard ones with the perforated doors and the molded chocolates? Yep, those. LOVE them. Every so often my mom would step up her game and we would do something fancy, but those cardboard ones were there every year without fail.

Those simple traditions are the ones that stick.

Enough: A Book Review & Giveaway

Hi friends.

Have you ever started reading a book for one reason, and realized rather quickly that God put that book in your hands for so many other reasons? 

This is that book.

Growing Your Blog While Managing Your Home: Review and GIVEAWAY

This post contains affiliate links. I will earn a small commission on any purchases made through these links. Thank you for your support! I was also given a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are 100% my own. 

Hi friends!

Today I have something specifically for my blogging friends! If you're anything like me, you struggle trying to balance all the things that a successful blog requires, and all the things that a successful home requires. I've always thought that I just need someone to tell me what to do and when to do it!

You guys...this is that book!

A little bit about Jacinda:

Jacinda Vandenberg is madly in love with her editor and husband Brad, mother to three, a second-generation homeschooler, passionate homemaker, lover of coffee, and a writer at heart. She blogs at Growing Home, a site dedicated to holistic homemaking for the glory of God. When she's not teaching, reading, cooking, or gardening with her little sidekicks, you’ll probably find her scribbling away with one hand and holding a large mug of coffee in the other. Jacinda is the author of the 1777 New England Primer Alphabet Printables and a co-author of Homeschooling Day by Day and The Pursuit of Motherhood. You can connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, or visit her home on the web.

So...Jacinda is basically everything I want to be! A homeschooler who is effectively running her home, blessing her family, and not tearing her hair out in the process...well, at least most days, I'm sure!

I had the incredible opportunity to read this book before it was released, and it is fantastic. Jacinda breaks things down so simply, and really makes them feel manageable. One things I know about myself is that I do better when I have a checklist. However, I'm terrible at making my own! This book absolutely helps me set priorities, and place them in the right order. We run our home from a Christian perspective, and this book aligns with that perspective beautifully. There is nothing like finding a mentor that is "doing life" the same way you are!

I love this little blog of mine, and I love having the privilege of keeping my home. However, when I'm inefficient at either of them, they both become more of a struggle than they should be. Then I'm not blessing anyone, least of all myself. I can't do my job well if I am frazzled and exhausted. My home is my job, and I would like this blog to be my job as well, so I need to learn how to not be frazzled and exhausted by the two of them.

What will you find in the book?
- How to create a schedule and set priorities
- Content and Design information
- Social Media help
- Monetization ideas
- Logistics and Legal info
For a full table of contents, click HERE!

If you are trying to find the balance between blogging and keeping your home, I cannot recommend this book enough. I know that it is going to be a resource that I refer to over and over again! Just about every question I have ever had is in this book, answered in a way that is easy to understand and apply.

Jacinda has been so generous and is offering a special introductory price! Until Saturday January 18th, the book is only $3.99! After that it goes up to it's full retail price of $7.99. Honestly, it's a deal at either price, but why not grab it while it is on sale? It is available in both Kindle and PDF versions, so it is easy to access for everyone!

Jacinda has also given me permission to give a copy away! Yippee! The giveaway is open through Friday, so go get your entries in!

To see Jacinda's other fantastic resources, click here to visit Growing Home.

Be blessed!
Heather

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Sun Shine Down Review and Giveaway!

**Giveaway Closed**

Winner: Katie G!

Hi friends!

I want to share something with you today.

This is my friend, Gillian.

Isn't she pretty? She's also pretty amazing. Gillian and I met through work we do with Joni & Friends teaching local churches all about Special Needs Ministry. She is smart, funny, she speaks at MOPS groups all over the Chicagoland Area about life, parenting, imperfection and depression. She is the wife of a pastor at a small neighborhood church in Chicago, and had 4 daughters, 3 biologically, and 1 by way of adoption. Her 2 youngest daughters, Polly and Evie, have Down syndrome. 

As if all that wasn't enough to keep her busy. Gillian has written a book. It chronicles Polly's birth in Ukraine where Gillian and her husband were missionaries, her diagnosis, and the emotional roller coaster that followed. The care and treatment of people with disabilities is drastically different in Ukraine than here in the states, so the book also follows their move back, and the transitions that came with it.

 You guys, this book is the real deal. It is raw, and truthful, and lays it all out there. Although He certainly plays a role, this is not your typical "and then Jesus made it all better" Christian memoir. I was blessed to be able to read this book before it was published, and while I was expecting to enjoy it, I was not expecting to relate to it so much. I have no idea what it is like to deal with an unexpected disability (or an expected one for that matter). However, I do know what it is like to struggle to bond with my child.

 I'm almost embarrassed to admit it, but I struggled to bond with Abbey when she was born. Between a very long induction with a lot of intervention, a 2 day stay in the NICU, and some undiagnosed Post Partum Depression, I didn't really experience that "ooey-gooey" love that so many new mother's talk about about until Abbey was about 3 months old. People would say things like "don't you just want to sit and hold her all day and just stare at that little face?!" and I would smile back at them, all the while thinking "No, I just want to put her down and crawl into bed!" I remember the moment that I "fell in love" with my daughter, and it took my breath away. I remember thinking "Oh, THERE it is!"  Reading about how Sergei, Gillian's husband, latched on to this little baby girl of theirs so intensely and immediately brought back memories of my own husband's attachment to our daughter. Those memories hurt and heal all at the same time.

If you are, or know a mama of a child with special needs, this book is for you. If you aren't a mama of a child with special needs, this book is for you, too.

It is available in print, on Kindle, and on Nook.

There is also one  copy available for you here! That's right, I'm so in love with this book that I'm giving away a copy. Just leave a comment down below about why you want to read this book and I will randomly choose a winner. The winner will be announced on Thursday!

Oh, and go follow Gillian. You definitely want to!
Blog: http://www.gillianmarchenko.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GillianMarchenkoPage
Twitter: https://twitter.com/GillianMarchenk
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/gmarchenko/

Be blessed!

Heather

Clean Mama Printables GIVEAWAY!!

Hooray! It's giveaway day!

 Before we get to the giveaway, I wanted to share just a few more of my favorite pieces of the Starter Kit.

 Automobile Maintenance Log

Neither of our cars are new. They're in pretty good shape, but we're getting to the point where tracking the maintenance we've done on them is important, especially if we want to sell them some day. This log makes that so easy!

Emergency Contact Info

Everything, all in one place. All the information is there, and it's easy to pull out of the binder and put on the fridge for a baby sitter. 

Important Dates

I admit it...I am horribly dependent on Facebook to remind me of birthdays. Not the best system in the world. This will be a huge help!

Before I Forget

Ok, this one is brilliant! No one should ever have a three-year-old in the house and not have a place to write down all the ridiculous and silly things they say and do! No I have one, right there in my binder!

There are so many other fantastic pages in this kit. Becky makes it so easy to personalize your home management binder (or whatever your favorite format is) to what you need it to be. 

Now, let's get to the goodies! I have all sorts of entries for you, so enter away!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The giveaway will end on Sunday at midnight, and I will announce the winner here on Monday!!

Be blessed!

Heather

The Tag Reader from #LeapFrog

Hello friends!

We're over here in the middle of moving chaos. Boxes. are. everywhere!

I wanted to pop in here really quick because the good people at LeapFrog have sent me goodies to share with you! YAY!

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. We love LeapFrog in this house!

We're lifetime LeapFroggers, and I was thrilled to be able to add to our collection.

The puppy that started it all!

This time we got the chance to play with the Tag Reader, and a new book. To say that Abbey is crazy about the Tag Reader is an understatement for sure.

The Tag Reader is amazing. We read books together all the time, but I also want Abbey to learn to love books on her own. She is going through a phase where she doesn't want to look at books by herself because she "doesn't know what the words are". She is thiiis close to reading, so I love that the Tag is getting her into books independently.

LeapFrog also sent us their new book, Leap and the Lost Dinosaur.

This is such a fun book! It is geared for 5-8 year olds, and comes with a great set of dinosaur trading cards. My favorite part? It has a pocket in the cover to hold the cards! There is nothing worse than getting something that comes with small parts and not having a home for them.

The thing that I love about the Tag is that, just like the Leapster, it will grow with Abbey. Can she do all the things that these books ask her to do? Not yet. But is she getting into books, being exposed to new concepts and skills, and picking things up as she goes. Absolutely!

LeapFrog has books for every level, from learning TO read all the way up to learning THROUGH reading. There are not just books, but fun things like flash cards and maps. I can see a lot of these things finding their way into our home library, especially as we start to explore homeschooling more.

You know what else I love about LeapFrog? They are so incredibly generous! They have given me the OK to give a new Tag Reader and a copy of Leap and the Lost Dinosaur to YOU! 

Well, it could be you, if you enter the giveaway! So...what are you waiting for??

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Be blessed!

Heather

Have fun with LeapFrog GIVEAWAY!

Hi friends!

Who here loves LeapFrog? We're big fans around here. Abbey has had LeapFrog products ranging from toys to movies, and has loved every one of them. She loves that she's having fun, and I love that she's learning.

We recently got the chance to play with and review the new LeapsterGS.

Man, oh man do we love this thing! At first I was a little worried because the LeapsterGS is listed as being for kids ages 4-9, and with Abbey just turning 3 I wasn't sure if there was going to be anything at her level. Don't get me wrong, I want her to be challenged, but I want her to enjoy playing with this thing as well. My worries were completely unfounded! Are there a few games that are over her head? Yes. We play them together, and she is already picking up on new skills and becoming more independent (yay!). However, there are plenty of apps that are completely her speed.

There is a great coloring app, which is usually Abbey's go-to. She also loves the games that involve the camera. Oh yeah, did I mention that? This baby has a camera, and can take pictures and video! It's not just extra add-on either. There are apps that use the camera as part of the game play. It also has motion-based play capabilities (think smart phones and tablets) that involve actions like tilting and shaking as part of the games.

The LeapsterGS has a touch screen and can be used with just your fingers, but it also comes with an (attached!) stylus. Abbey prefers the stylus...not sure why. I am so impressed by the range of games and apps there are for the LeapsterGS. There are reading games, math and science games, everything! And the best part? Kids don't realize they're learning.

The one downfall I can see with the LeapsterGS is the price of the cartridge games. $24.99 for a game is a bit rich for my blood, BUT there is an online app store full of games, videos and e-books starting at $5. Total redemption.

I can see Abbey playing with this toy for years to come. Things like that don't come across all that often, so I get excited when they do.

Want to hear the best part??

I get to give one away!! WOOHOO!! The fabulous people at LeapFrog are giving me the opportunity to give you a super fun device.

That's right, enter below to win your very own LeapsterGS and game cartridge.
The giveaway runs through Sunday, and I will pick a winner on Monday. It's only open to residents of the U.S. Sorry international friends!

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Be blessed!

Heather

A Couple Announcements

Hi friends!

I've got exciting stuff for you today! Well, it's exciting for me anyway. I hope it's exciting for you!

First of all...I have a winner for the Eclos Beauty giveaway!

Our winner is:

Yay!! I'll get the sample pack to you soon!

Announcement #2 is the one I'm super excited about!

Let me introduce you to The Flannel Lamb!

That's right! I finally got my shop open! Right now it's full of Training Pants, but there are more products on the way. I am thrilled to finally have it open! I have been absolutely floored by the response to my DIY Cloth Training Pants tutorial. It has gone viral a couple times on Pinterest, and every time it does I just sit there and think "seriously?? Another pin??". I've also had several requests for purchasing sets by non-sewers, so here they are!
Oh, and can we talk about how cute that little lamby up there is?? My friend Laura Banasiak drew him for me, and I'm in love! Laura is a fantastic digital scrapbooking designer, and I just adore her doodley style. If your in the market for a logo, hit her up!

Be blessed!

Heather

Flair Magnets

Hello friends!

In case you missed it, I wanted to share my guest post from over at Busily Spinning Momma last week.

Enjoy!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

I have a super simple tutorial for you today! 

I was recently at a work conference, and over the course of the week I gathered quite a collection of "flair" buttons. You know, the ones with pins on the back. Some of them we just too cute or funny to part with, and they all come with great memories! My bulletin board at work needed some new magnets, and so...Flair  Magnets were born!

This project could not be any easier, I promise!

Start out by gathering your materials.

You will need:

Buttons

Magnets

A wire cutter of some sort

strong glue (I used E-6000, hot glue might work, but I wanted to make sure they were secure)

Start by pulling the pins out of the buttons.

You could probably leave the rest of the pin in their, but I chose to wrestle it out of there. Be carefull, I tore the front of one of my buttons while I did it! Oops!

Now, glue on your magnets.

A little bit of E-6000 goes a long way!

I've found that E-6000 likes to ooze out of the bottle whether I'm squeezing it or not.

Just put it down over another button and it does the work for you! Sweet!

Here are my buttons, all glued and magnet-ed.

I highly recommend doing this project outside if you are using E-6000. That stuff stinks!

Let your magnets dry and cure for about 24 hours.

There you have it! Cute magnets that come with fun memories! 

Thanks so much for letting me hang with you today!

  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

I'm part of a giveaway over at BSM! Follow the link and scroll down past the first giveaway results to see what you can win, and get a little sneak peek of something I'm working on! YAY!

I'm linking up here, come join me!

Be blessed!

Heather