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Ahh Products Bean Bag ~ Review

imageAhh Products bean bag chairs have been the biggest hit at our house ~ with everyone {including Daddy}! Since their arrival they have visited every single room of our house and are in constant use.

Initially, I was a little concerned about having a bean bag chair and a certain 6 year old in the same room together, but after seeing the bean bags in person and the quality of them, I have no more concerns! The quality of the construction is solid: double stitched seams, heavy-duty fabric and hidden zippers too! The fabric is a very soft cuddle brown and cuddle blue ~ perfect for keeping you nice and cozy while curled up to read or play a game together.

bean bag chair

Or just play in general.

I love that they are easy for the kids to lift and move around the house. When we’re upstairs, they are in the living room for the kids to use as a reading spot or just as a place to rest and relax.

bean bag chair

Our basement family room needed a little extra seating, especially for family movie night, and the Ahh Products bean bag chairs have been the perfect solution. The fact that I don’t need to worry about drinks or food spilling and getting the fill wet is a huge bonus!

bean bags during movies

About the Bean Bags

Each Ahh Products bean bag chair has a removable outer shell that is completely washable. Inside there is a water-repellent liner, so if something is spilled it won’t soak through into the filling. They also have a self-locking zipper to keep curious children from opening up the inside liner and getting into mischief. They can even be refilled or recovered if necessary.You can read full product descriptions here.

The Ahh Products bean bag chairs are something that I can really recommend based on their quality and durability. The covers that we chose bumped the price of each bean bag up a bit, but I can honestly say that they are worth every penny.

Customer service has been exceptional and our bean bags arrived by Fed Ex within a few days of our shipment notification. Our Fed Ex guy was also happy to carry the boxes into the house because they were so light. :) Ahh Prods also has a flat $22 shipping rate, a 365 day no-hassle return policy and they also offer a 10 year warranty on their covers and liners!

If you are looking for a family Christmas gift, an Ahh Products bean bag chair would be something that your whole family could use and enjoy. We have the Premium 37” bean bag as well as a Giant 52” bean bag ~ perfect for two people to cuddle up together in or for a dad to take a Sunday afternoon nap {ahem}. They have a variety of bean bag sizes too so each member of the family can find the right fit.

 

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I was provided product in exchange for my honest opinion and review. All opinions expressed in this review are solely mine.

Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary for Kids {Review}

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Our house is littered with dictionaries for the kids ~ all ages and stages. One thing that we didn’t have until recently was a great Bible dictionary for them. A little something that would help them {and maybe me as a mom} find the definition or significance of things in the Bible that they don’t understand.

Because I don’t always have quick answers to their questions about what a denarius is…or what the names of the twelve disciples are. With the Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary for Kids we have a great resource on hand to help answer some of those questions that do come up.

The Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary for Kids is based on two other great resources: the Holman Bible Dictionary and the Holman Pocket Bible Dictionary and has a wonderful cross between real pictures and illustrations to help bring Biblical terms and places to life for kids.

Additional features of the Bible Dictionary include illustrated charts of Bible animals, insects, and plants; reconstructions of Biblical cities and buildings; charts of the names of Jesus and apostles; definitions of key Bible terms and pronunciation guides to those hard-to-say words.

Our Thoughts

Laurianna has been the one primarily using it and when I asked her what she liked about it, these were a few of the things that she said she really liked about the Holman Bible Dictionary for Kids:

IMG_9504~ nice pictures that are bright and colorful

~ pronunciations of the words so she knew how to say them

~ easy to find words with the letters alphabetized on the side of the page.

~ references along with the entries, telling you where you can find more about that topic

Overall, this is a book that we’ll keep handy on our bookshelf because it will definitely be useful in our studies.

Find Out More

You can get a sneak peek inside the book at the B&H Publishing site and download a pdf sample of the book. You can also purchase the book {$14.99} directly from their website.

Target age: 5 to 10 years old

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Homepreschool and Beyond {Review}

Recently Susan Lemon, author of Homepreschool and Beyond, asked me to review her book. I’ll admit that I let her email sit in my inbox for a few days before agreeing to review it, mainly because I have a hard time reading books that are non-fiction. I do, however, have a preschooler and after reading this statement from Susan, something clicked and I wanted to review her book:

“Many parents struggle to know what to teach their preschoolers. Some take a “hands-off” approach, providing little in the way of educational activities. Others emphasize early academics, drilling their youngsters on colors, numbers, and letters while overlooking play and other experiences that are vital for normal development.

Preschoolers thrive somewhere between these extremes. They need a balanced, faith-based, developmentally appropriate approach that emphasizes relationships, simple daily routines, readiness and reading aloud.

They need parents who make the main thing the main thing.”

Susan Lemon

imageThe subtitle of Homepreschool and Beyond is A Comprehensive Guide to Early Home Education and Lemons provides exactly that throughout her book. While the majority of the book focuses on preschool aged children, additional resources are provided for children beyond the preschool age.

Lemons focuses on providing all children with activities that are developmentally appropriate, not forcing activities on children that they are not ready for academically or even emotionally. Her emphasis is on the 4 R’s: Relationships, Routines, Readiness, and Reading Aloud.

The last ‘R’ is the one that struck the deepest with me. Our preschooler, {as the last of four children} generally gets the ‘mommy leftovers’. This year I am focusing on general themes through literature as the base for all of his learning, so chapter six of her book ‘Teaching Through Reading Aloud’ really hit home for me {you can see a detailed chapter list here}.

Overall, Homepreschool and Beyond is FULL of book lists, recommended resources and would be a wonderful resource for parents of young children to have on hand. Please see Susan’s website for tips, hints, articles and more!

About the Author

Susan Lemons is a homeschooling mother of four. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Child Development and taught preschool for eight years. She is committed to helping new and prospective homeschool families get off to a great start. Be sure to stop by and read her blog at susanlemons.wordpress.com.

Disclaimer: Thank you to Susan @ Homepreschool and Beyond for providing the review product. This review is based on my own experiences and gives my honest opinion.

Rainbow Blocks ~ A Guidecraft Mom Review

Building and boys are two things that just go hand in hand. Having quality wooden blocks on hand ~ and ones that have some fun colored panes in the center, makes the building even more fun. Our kids have been creating and playing with the Rainbow Block set from Guidecraft since they arrived on our doorstep.

Rainbow Blocks setAbout Rainbow Blocks

Rainbow blocks are hardwood and each of the 30 piece Wooden Block Set has a piece of colored plexi-glass in the center of the block. The pieces range in size from the 2.5” squares to 5.5” long rectangles. The set also has a variety of shapes: 4 half circles, 10 rectangles, 8 small squares, and 8 different triangles.

What Do We Think?

Our kids are having much fun building and creating with these blocks. Laurianna takes after me and is making everything symmetrical .

rainbow blocks

The boys are just having fun building and creating in general! If they can make it as tall as possible, it is the best building ever.

   Rainbow BlocksRainbow blocks

We’ve had fun building rockets {and counting backward from 20!!}

Rainbow Block rocket

Seeing how you can put shapes together to make other shapes:

Rainbow Block shapes

The blocks are sturdy and a high quality construction ~ something that I am impressed with, especially having two boys that know how to give toys a good run for their money!

Find Out More

Rainbow Blocks are available through the Guidecraft website and also available from Amazon.

Erica at Confessions of a Homeschooler is hosting a giveaway for a set of Rainbow Blocks from Oct 17th til the 22nd, so be sure to visit and enter to win some for your little ones!

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As a Guidecraft Mom blogger, I was provided this product to review. I was not paid for this post and all opinions expressed in this post are mine…or my kids.

Pick and Draw ~ A FUN Review!

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The last few weeks around our house have been void of technology for the kids and one of the FIRST games that our kids pulled out to play was Pick and Draw. Although it looks like a simple deck of cards, it is actually a drawing game for children {and you} that shows how to draw faces and think creatively.
 

About the Game {and Rich Davis}

Even if you don’t think you can draw, you can play this game! The Pick and Draw deck has step-by-step instruction cards, 45 sturdy ‘drawing’ cards to use while playing, and comes in a hard plastic storage case. The game itself…

  • uses basic shapes that anyone can draw {even Kaleb, our three year old tries to play along}
  • is easy to play ~ we were playing in less than 5 minutes
  • needs only basic tools to play ~ a pencil and paper
  • gets the creativity flowing!
Pick and Draw game 
One of my favorite things about this game is one little card inside the deck that talks about the Greatest Artist ~ the One who made each one of us. From the card: 
“I have made this Pick and Draw game so that you and I can draw together. I want it to be fun for you and I think you will be surprised how well you can draw. Your ability to create is a gift from God. So grab your paper and pencil and let’s draw!”
~ Rich Davis

Playing with Pick and Draw

Pick and Draw deckEach deck of cards {$10} has five different colored card sets for different parts of the character you will draw ~ face, nose, eyes, mouth, and hair. All of the cards start out face down and then one card from each category is flipped over {one at a time} and you draw that piece. You can choose to draw each ‘piece’ as large or as small as you want, making it your very own character.
 
When you are done creating your characters it’s time to name them and tell a little story about each of the creations. It would be a great {and sneaky} way to add some language activities into your school day along with a little creativity!
Pick and Draw face
 

If you want some great stocking stuffers and gifts for extended family this Christmas, you can purchase the Pick and Draw game for your family directly from the Pick and Draw site.

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Disclaimer: Thank you to Rich @ Pick and Draw for providing the review and giveaway products. This review is based on my own experiences and gives my honest opinion.

Doll Furniture from Guidecraft {Review}

Our girls have a new little something that has completely enraptured them ~ a gorgeous Doll Table and Chair set from Guidecraft. From the moment we put it together and it hit the floor of their bedroom, they have been having tea party after tea party with their dolls.

I think it’s safe to say that they are in love.

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About the Doll Furniture

The Doll Table and Chair set are part of the new doll furniture collection that Guidecraft is now offering {just in time for Christmas ~ ahem}. There IMG_8214are two different finish colors {espresso and natural}. The furniture arrived unassembled, but from start to finish it took me right around 15 minutes to put it together ~ not bad at all.

There were only 4 screw and washers per piece of furniture to put it together, and the pieces were all labeled well for assembly. If I would have had my socket wrench handy, I might have shaved off about five minutes, but the allen wrench included in the package and I got a nice little work out in patience. :)

Each piece in Guidecraft’s Doll Furniture collection is made out of hardwood and will last for years. The furniture is sized to fit dolls up to 21” ~ we have 18” dolls and it is working perfectly with them!

What Do We Think?

IMG_8147Our girls are definitely in love with the table and chair set. It has been in constant use from the moment that I finished putting it together…and is sitting in front of me as I write this post. When we eat dinner, the dolls eat dinner nearby.

I love how simple and easy it was to put together. The girls probably could have done it on their own if I had thought about it. Watching them pretend play together has been wonderful too, and the boys are even enjoying playing along {grins}. It definitely has me thinking about the Doll Bunk Beds that Guidecraft also offers. I have a feeling that the girls might each be getting a bed for their dolls for Christmas too!

On a side note, a certain member of the 4 foot and under crowd thinks the table and chair set are very handy. I wouldn’t recommend this, but it was too cute to not take a picture.

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Find Out More

You can see the full line of Doll Furniture that Guidecraft offers on their website. The Doll Table and Chair set are available for purchase through Amazon and also through the Guidecraft website

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As a Guidecraft Mom blogger, I was provided this product to review. I was not paid for this post and all opinions expressed in this post are mine…or my kids.