Audio Book: “The Story of the World” by Susan Wise Bauer (Volume 1)
After a friends recommendation we got the first CD set of The Story of the World: Volume 1: Ancient Times: From the Earliest Nomads to the Last Roman Emperor by Susan Wise Bauer and read by Jim Weiss. The girls LOVE listening to audio books and have thoroughly enjoyed these ones as well. As a Mom I am thrilled about it because it isn’t just an audio book they are listening to but history. It is amazing how quickly kids will pick up on bits of history just listening to the audio books. I have been very impressed with it and glad the girls are captivated by their stories as well! They do a wonderful job keeping the kids attention. If you have a young child that loves to read this may be a wonderful addition to your home library. I have even learned new stuff listening to the CDs with the girls. We look forward to listening to the first set several times and hopefully getting the next Volume in the future.
Giveaway: Book “Speaking Mom-ese” by Lisa Whelchel
I will be doing a giveaway for the month of April! The winner will receive the hardcover book called “Speaking Mom-ese: Moments of Peace & Inspiration in the Mother Tongue” by Lisa Whelchel! As Moms it is difficult finding a moment of “quiet” in our days and I liked how each chapter was short so I could fit it into even a busy day. A friend gave me the book when I was pregnant with the girls and I have read through at least it twice. Lisa shares insights and stories about her children as well as encourages you as a Mom. I think it is important even on the busy days to have even a few moments to relax.
All you have to do to enter this giveaway is sign up to follow my blog (if you haven’t done so already) and leave a comment below by 10 PM EST on April 30th telling us how you follow Blessings Multiplied. You can get a BONUS entry into the drawing if you leave a separate comment below telling us one of your tips for squeezing in a few moments of peace and quiet into your already busy day! We love our family but they have a way of keeping us running all day! On April 30th I will randomly draw a winner from those who have entered the giveaway.
Curious Kids: Triangular Vacuums
The neat part about having kids is that they notice the small things, the stuff we take for granted as adults. A few months ago one of my girls wanted to know “Why does the vacuum leave triangles on the carpet?” It perplexed them when they were watching me because the vacuum itself is a rectangle yet somehow it manages to spit out triangles onto the carpet when I vacuum the floor. Although the triangles are not necessary I let them know that seeing the triangles indicates to Mommy that the carpet has recently been cleaned and makes the room look nice.They had been learning about patterns at school and this strange occurrence at home captivated their attention one day. The triangles are created in a pattern by the way I steer the vacuum cleaner over the carpet. It helps me know that I have cleaned the entire floor and adds an extra reward at the end. It is the little things that you do that the kids pick up on and want to learn more about. I don’t know for sure if they will do the same things once they are grown but at least they know why Mommy creates triangles on the floor and how to do it with a rectangle shaped vacuum. I am thankful for kids who have the desire to learn, explore, and try to figure out how things work. Their curiosity keeps me on my toes and allows me to continue finding ways to teach them about life. As a Mom love this day to day education opportunity with my girls.
Book: “Green Eggs & Ham” by Dr Seuss
In honor of Dr. Seuss’ birthday this week the girls have been celebrating by reading his books at home and with their class at school. One of our projects earlier this week was to pull the Dr Seuss books we have in our home library and take them to school so they could read to the class. After gathering all our books together I was surprised to see how many we had accumulated over the years but after much exploration I realized that we only have just a handful of the ones he wrote. Since Dr. Seuss has been on my mind this week with all the celebrations and he was a successful children’s writer I want to highlight one of our family favorites by Dr. Seuss – Green Eggs and Ham. We have read this book so many times over the last 6 years I think we have it almost memorized. One of the reasons I like this book is because it teaches a valuable lesson, sometimes we have a preconceived notion that something is bad or that we won’t enjoy it but unless we try it we will never known. Taking the opportunity to try something different (it can be as silly as a strange looking meal as illustrated in the book) can often lead to a pleasant surprise and had we not tried it we would have missed out on fun, excitement, blessings, or even the simple pleasure of eating strange looking food.
We have several other Dr. Seuss books that we read quite frequently but “Green Eggs & Ham‘ ranks pretty high up there with my girls. Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss thanks for writing some amazing books that we can read to our children!
Book: “God Gave Us So Much” by Lisa Tawn Bergren
I recently read the book treasury “God Gave Us So Much” by Lisa Tawn Bergren to my twin daughters. “God Gave Us So Much” is a limited-edition treasury of three books. I must say I was pleasantly surprised by the depth into creation, love, and heaven the author went into for a children’s book. The author created a pretty steady stream of “Questions” and “Answers” dialogue between Little Cub, her parents, and grandparents.I read the books to my girls in three separate settings. The first book “God Gave us the World” which was a huge hit with the kids. One of my daughters is fascinated with earth, planets, traveling and science so she had a lot of wonderful questions about the story. It was neat hearing Little Cubs questions about all the different types of bears that live around the world and how God made each bear unique.
The second book was “God Gave Us Love” which I read to the girls on Valentine’s Day. It was a great reminder of all the people who love us in life and especially that God loves each one of us. It had practical applications on ways to show love to others. Ultimately I liked how the book encouraged the kids to know that God loved them.
“God Gave Us Heaven” was the third book in this treasury and it paints an amazing picture of heaven! Little Cub asked a series of common questions kids ask regarding heaven and the author did well in answering them. I especially liked the analogy of Jesus being our “bridge” to our forever home. She painted a pretty clear picture for children regarding heaven and salvation.
The books mention God and many of the questions little ones ask regarding God, the world, love and heaven. I really like how Lisa emphasized on how our world was designed by God, that he loves us and wants us to live in heaven with him. The only thing that caught me off guard was there is no mention of “Little Cub’s” gender until the end of books and all three of us assumed by the conversation that Little Cub was male so we were surprised to find out Little Cub was actually a female. These books had a good mixture of adventure and giving credit to God. Each book peaked the curiosity of my girls enough to allow us the opportunity to continue the conversation for several minutes after reading the book and answer their additional questions about life, love, and heaven.
Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book for review purposes from the publisher through the Waterhouse Multnomah. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
FREE Tag Book from LeapFrog!
You can get a free LeapFrog Tag “Ozzie and Mack”, or a LeapFrog Tag Jr. “Animal Orchestra” storybook when you link your LeapFrog toy(s) or DVD(s) on the LeapFrog’s Learning Path site. Free shipping included! This book is totally FREE ($9.99 value)!
- Go online and type in shop.LeapFrog.com/freebookk
Rules & Information: Limit one per household. The offer is valid from 7/1/10 though 3/1/11 or while supplies last. Valid only in the 48 contiguous states, the District of Columbia and Canada, excluding Quebec. We are not able to ship to P.O. Box, APO or FPO addresses at this time.
Most families have at least one of the LeapFrog toys, games, or DVD’s that will qualify them for this offer. All you have to do is sign up and get your free book!
We got the girls a Tag Reader for Christmas and they LOVE it! They will be thrilled to get another book to read and I love that it’s free!
New Upromise eCoupons for February 2011
Upromise has posted their new eCoupons for the month of February 2011. Remember to activate them to get additional savings. If you have not yet signed up for Upromise you can get more information regarding on our experience or at directly at the Upromise website.
This month they have 29 coupons you can activate for bonus savings. Once you activate your eCoupons all you have to do is scan your rewards card or purchase the items at the store and the cash will be added to your account. You don’t even have to carry any coupons to get the rewards!
You can go to their website for more information on the Upromise program, it’s free to join.
Book: “My Good Night Devotions” by Susan Lingo
We purchased “My Good Night Devotions” by Susan Lingo at Goodwill for $0.25 after reading through a couple stories, our copy has a couple markings in it but otherwise in great condition. It has 45 devotional stories for kids. The girls LOVE it! Each lesson has a short scripture verse, a story, thinking time (with a 1 to 3 questions), prayer and sleeping time game or activity for them to go to bed thinking about. Brina and Karlie’s favorite character is “Night Light” a little firefly that is hidden in each picture and throughout the devotional. If you are looking for a neat devotional that shows how God’s Word works in everyday situations for your young kids check out this book.
Book: “Cooking for Kids, Kids’ Party Food”
My Mom gave me this book for Christmas 2005 Favorite Brand Name: Cooking for Kids, Kids’ Party Food. The girls were still small then but it has been a great book that all of us have enjoyed over the past few years. We love looking through it and have tried many of the recipes; several have become family favorites. It has creative recipes that the girls love helping me with and some they can do almost on their own with a little adult supervision. Once they start reading it will be even easier for them. There are are pictures along with creative ideas for cooking and parties. If you are looking for a great gift for a young child or Mom and they like to cook this may be an awesome book for them.
Free Tickets to Six Flags (Students & Teachers)
Six Flags is offering free tickets to students and teachers. Six Flags and Discovery Education are encouraging students to read through their Read to Succeed Program. More details about the program below:
Read to Succeed is a free educational program sponsored by Six Flags to inspire kids in grades K through 6 to engage in recreational reading. Students who complete six hours of recreational, nonschool-related reading are eligible to earn a free admission ticket to a participating Six Flags theme park. Teachers whose classes participate and complete the program are also eligible to earn a free ticket. Schools must be within a 250-mile radius of a participating Six Flags theme park in order to participate.
Check to see if your school is participating. It looks like even those homeschooling can participate in this program. They are starting this program in January 2011, but you can go ahead and sign up now. It is wonderful seeing companies rewarding students for reading.
Thanks Money Saving Mom and The Freebie Blogger!
