Mommin' It Up!

December 8, 2013December 17, 2013

I love coffee, and I love giveaways!

I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for Sturm Foods, Inc. I received a promotional item and product samples as a thank you for participating.

Guess what. y’all? In my 35th year (which has now passed, I know, I know) I became a full-fledged coffee addict. And I’m not just addicted to it. I LOVE IT!! I can laughingly remember a time when I was *just* a “social” coffee drinker. HA! Hilarious. Now it’s 2-3 cups every morning and often an “afternoon” cup as well. And I like ’em fancy! Sweetened and with a flavored creamer, yes I do!

Seeing as I love coffee long-time, I was very happy to review these Caza Square and Grove Trail coffee and hot chocolate K-cups. Because, baby, it’s COLD outside! ‘Tis the season to be guzzling warm, tasty beverages. Because I am a giving person, I took my boxes of Caza Square and Grove Trail to our house church meeting one night to share with the group. These individual servings were so convenient because everyone could make the drink of their choice! And we had a lot to choose from.

Dark roast coffees are my fave so I went for the Caza Trail dark roast first. It was sooo good! I like mine with one packet of Splenda and a little French Vanilla creamer. Mmmm!

coffee 2 Jenny — This is my “I love this coffee!” face.

Next I went for the Peppermint Hot Cocoa because peppermint & chocolate together are magnificent, especially this time of year! It did not disappoint, either! Between my friends and I, we tried all 5 of the cocoa and coffee flavors I brought, and everyone agreed that they tasted great! My BFF Luanne especially loved the Grove Square Dark Chocolate Hot Cocoa.

Here is where I confess I tried every single flavor. 🙂 I didn’t down five full cups though…I sampled some of friends’ drinks when I’d had my fill. I was impressed by how truly different the three hot cocoas tasted. You could really tell there was a real flavor difference between the three varieties. The cappuccino was yummy, too, but I’m still a dark roast coffee girl at heart.

Again, I just can’t stress enough how convenient the K-cups were, allowing us each to make an individual drink (or two) in whatever flavor we craved.

If you use K-cups, you’re in luck! I’m giving away one pack of K-cups in the Donut Shop Coffee variety! All you need to do to enter is leave me a comment on this post and tell me how you like your coffee! Tell me your favorite flavor or what you do or don’t add to it.

One winner will be chosen at random on Saturday, December 14th at noon EST. Good luck and happy coffee drinking!

December 7, 2013December 7, 2013

Transformers Construct-Bots are Creative and FUN!

This post is part of a sponsored review with Hasbro and Mom it Forward Blogger Network. All opinions about the product are mine and my son Joshua’s!

Like his father before him, Joshua looooooves Transformers. So when I got the opportunity to review the new Transformers Construct-Bots, I was not going to turn it down. And my boy sure was happy! As soon as I gave it to him, he vanquished the packaging and started building his Construct-Bot.

The cool thing about Construct-Bots is you can build them, then customize their weapons and body parts any way you want. So your child can make them really unique. Plus – the parts are interchangeable with ALL Transformers Construct-Bots, so your kiddo can even make a hybrid Autobot/Decepticon if he or she wants to!

Joshua had lots of fun showing me the different things he could do with his Construct-Bots’ weapons.

Another really fun feature of the Construct-Bots is that the robots transform into a vehicle without being taken apart! So cool!

Of course, the vehicles can then be customized as well. Here’s Joshua’s “version 2” of the car:

I love that this is a toy that fuels Joshua’s creativity- he is SUCH a creative kid and enjoys toys like this that allow him to think outside the box – and also gives him an opportunity to play with Daddy! Like I said, my husband loves Transformers too! They had fun working on the Construct-Bot car together.

Immediately after Joshua got his Construct-Bot together, he said, “This is an awesome toy! I need a Decepticon to fight him!” Since I like the toy a lot, too, I ran out to Target and got him another couple-few for Christmas (shopping for my Grandma to give him.) He’s going to be so excited! (And, well-played, Hasbro!) All your kids’ favorite Transformers like Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, and Starscream are available as Construct-Bots.

Joshua is having a GREAT time with his Transformers Construct-Bot! These are great toys and very reasonably priced! Joshua has played with his a ton in the past few days and I can’t wait til he opens the ones he’ll get for Christmas.

Think this might be a good gift for your kiddo? Find out more about Transformers Construct-Bots, on Facebook, or follow Hasbro on Twitter.

December 6, 2013December 6, 2013

Making Christmas Brighter for Foster Kids!

Kohl’s provided me with a $200 gift card to purchase Christmas gifts for children in my area with foster care. No other compensation has been provided to me, and all opinions on my shopping experience are my own. Thank you Kohl’s!

A couple of years ago, you all helped me raise money in an effort to help my friend Jeni provide Christmas gifts for all the foster kids in Greene County (which is the county next to mine). She called it “Fostering Christmas Care”. And it was awesome! Since then, Jeni has continued to try and provide gifts for the foster kids in her county by getting wish lists from case workers and getting her friends and family to commit to shopping for a kid or two each. Last year, I took the kids to Kohl’s to go shopping for the kids we’d been assigned. We went to Kohl’s because they have a really great toy selection and AWESOME sales around the holidays!

KohlsSale — Just an example of the great sales Kohl’s has online and in-store during the holidays

This year, I wanted to do a little something more, so I got the bright idea to ask Kohl’s if they would sponsor my efforts to provide some gifts for foster kids – and they said YES, to the tune of $200! I guess you could say that this is a sponsored post, but really it’s just me telling you how generous Kohl’s is and how I’m trying to be a good steward of their $200 gift card they sent me to buy gifts for foster kids with and maximize their great sales to get as many gifts for those kids as I can!

But let me back up and tell you the reason I got the idea in the first place. This year, foster care has become a little more real to me. For the past several months, my brother, sister-in-law, and their four kids have been preparing their home and their hearts, and this fall Andy & Sarah were officially licensed as foster parents. Just about three weeks ago they got their first foster child, a little girl. We first met her at Sophie’s birthday party, about a week after she was placed with my brother’s family. Sophie was SO excited and prays for her every night!

Anticipating a new member of our family all summer had me thinking about foster care and the holidays early. And when I emailed my contact at Kohl’s, they responded generously and sent me a $200 gift card just in time to take advantage of Black Friday sales! I did my first round of shopping online. I don’t have a “wish list” from the case workers yet, so I bought items for mostly little kids who wouldn’t necessarily have a strong wish list. When I shopped online at Kohls.com, I used a Black Friday coupon code, got free shipping over $50 AND earned $15 Kohl’s cash for every $50 I spent! I spent just over $55 and got six great toys AND $15 Kohl’s cash to spend the next week!!

A few days later, this big ol’ Kohl’s box arrived!

Here’s the haul I got shopping online for less than $56!

SONY DSC — All these great toys for less than $56 shipped and I got $15 Kohl’s cash to buy more toys for foster kiddos!

I decided to do my next round of shopping in the store, and tool my little helpers with me again – I wanted Joshua and Sophie to once again experience selecting a toy for a child who otherwise might not be getting one.

kohlsChristmas2 — My super-shoppers ready to go into Kohl’s and find some great toys to give!

Just like last year, Kohl’s had a really big selection of toys -tons of great brands like Hot Wheels, Barbie, Disney, Fisher-Price, Little Tykes, Playmobil, Melissa & Doug, and tons more – and it was all on sale!

After m-u-c-h careful examination and deliberation, Joshua and Sophie each picked out a toy for a child their own age, and I picked out one for a child Jonah’s age (I picked a Little People school bus, which Jonah is in fact also getting for his birthday from my mom – who got it at Kohl’s, too!)

kohlsCHristmas1 — The Super Shoppers with their selections

We also picked up a pair of Hello Kitty slippers for my foster niece, because we DO have her wish list since my sister-in-law can let me know what she wants and needs.

We took our purchases up to the register, and after my $15 Kohl’s cash that I earned from shopping online on Black Friday, I spent just over $40 on the Kohl’s gift card. Here’s what we got!

So far we have 11 presents for little kids, and we still have $103.24 to spend on the older kids whose wish lists we will *hopefully* get next week! I will of course report back with what we get for them! Stay tuned for part 2 of our Fostering Christmas Care adventure!