The Traveling Sisterhood

Bubble Shack Hawaii! Oh. My. Goodness. I love this stuff! #Giveaway

Congrats to Janet, the winner of this giveaway!

I never imagined I'd get so excited about a soap before but, I promise you, Bubble Shack Hawaii's Handmade Loofah Soaps are pretty much the most heavenly thing ever. I sigh with pleasure and think maybe I need to take three showers in a 24 hour period as opposed to the 2 I already took... one of which I didn't need... but I'm not going to lie to you: I needed a relaxing something and that loofah. Sigh. Heavenly. The scent I received was Pikake Lei, and it's a natural loofah filled with soap which makes for the super most wonderful bathing experience. It feels so amazing, and smells nice, too.

While the loofah soap is my most favorite thing I've had the pleasure to review in recent memory, I also reviewed the rest of the Pikake Lei Tropical Trio which comes with their All in 1 Ultimate Kukui and Shea Wash (perfect to use as shampoo, body wash, handsoap, even dog wash!) , their Kukui and Shea Hawaiian Silky Lotion, and the Handmade Loofah Soap I already went on and on about. ;)

Bubble Shack Hawaii also sells Dog Wash tailor made for my pooch. Our darling poochie smells marvelous and her fur feels so soft after always using this! She smells like a little Hawaiian darling. The best thing, though, about all of their products is that they're totally natural and ocean-friendly. Love! Oh, and you also get free samples with every order! I discovered that when I went to order my bestie some of that loofah soap!

Giveaway

One of my readers will receive this Coconut Shell Soy Candle in the Hawaiian scent Pikake Lei. Enter below by January 16th at 11 pm anyone's time. I'll choose a winner the next morning via Random.org. In the meantime I hope you are having a wonderful new year!

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Our pretty pooch, nice and clean and smelling amazing!

Which scent or product would you most like to try?

Special thanks to the wonderful people at Bubble Shack Hawaii for providing me with this opportunity!

Easy & Delicious Crispy Chicken Parmesan! #FosterFarms #Giveaway

This makes a quick and easy Christmas-week dinner! My family loved it. We received a few bags of Foster Farms new 100% all natural Crispy Chicken Strips to try and they were marvelous. I knew they'd make perfect Chicken Parmesan (one of my favorite dishes) and I was right. Let me know if you decide to try it! Five of my readers will win free product vouchers to do just that. Just scroll down to the bottom of this post for the giveaway form.

Ingredients
Foster Farms Crispy Chicken Strips
Bertolli Tomato Sauce
Pasta of choice
8 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Prepare Foster Farms Crispy Chicken Strips according to package directions on a foil-lined baking pan.
3. Prepare pasta according to package directions.
4. When Crispy Chicken Strips are cooked, remove from oven and leave on same baking pan.
5. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese over each Chicken Strip and cover with ¼ cup of tomato sauce. Return to the oven and heat for 5-7 minutes or until cheese has melted.
6. Serve over prepared pasta.

Foster Farms chicken comes in a few other varieties, too, and makes a perfect Saturday or Sunday lunch, or mid-week meal when you feel to busy to actually cook. They're crispy and cook quickly and are yummy! You can get them at pretty much any chain supermarket--just look for the yellow bag. Easy to spot!

GIVEAWAY
Enter below by 12/23 at 11 pm anyone's time. I'll choose a winner on Christmas Eve. Have a wonderful week!

Auntie Anne’s Pretzel & Cinnamon Roll Baking Mixes! #HolidayDeliciousness

The holidays are a time for keeping friends and family close and enjoying the aroma of fresh baked treats wafting from the kitchen. Mm! We had so much fun baking pretzels and cinnamon rolls "from scratch"... if using Auntie Anne’s Pretzels & More Homemade Baking Mixes counts as scratch.

Of course, these kits made it super convenient--everything premeasured and included, even the yeast. The kiddos love rolling the dough out and watching it rise. We had a blast, and they were delicious!

You can get the kits just about anywhere. Today, we saw them at Joann Fabrics--where you can use one of those great 50% off coupons and get the kits for about $3. Each kit also features different holiday recipes. These would make a pretty great gift exchange idea (I think I might get one of the baking mixes for my upcoming White Elephant Gift Exchange). Walmart, Michael’s, and several regional grocery chains. Similarly, the Cinnabon Baking Mix makes eight cinnamon rolls, along with other delectable treats made with the same irresistible ingredients, such as monkey bread, cupcakes or even ham and cheese pinwheels. Let me know if you decide to check them out!

Special thanks to the wonderful people at Auntie Anne's for providing us with these products to review!

Winter Camping and Snacking Defined With Green Wagon! #Giveaway

Yep, we went winter camping on the day after Thanksgiving. No Black Friday Shopping for us! We had so much fun, and I brought along our box of Green Wagon snacks. I was surprised that the subscription box was so big, and stuffed full! My favorites were the Dark Chocolate Covered Coconuts and the Chocolate Covered Almonds. I took those ones in my room and ate them with a good book before we went camping. They were amazing! I really liked the Brazil nuts, but I did take those ones camping to share.

Camping with my girls.

My kiddos' favorites were the almond cookie bites. There was a very wide variety which ranged from sweet to spicy--something for everyone. There were dried other fruits like papaya and goji berries, other chocolate covered items, mixed fruits and nuts, and exotic delicacies none of us had ever heard of before like "dried jackfruit". Everyone had fun trying the different snacks, and it felt good to be snacking on such healthy stuff after all those hotdogs and S'mores of the night before. ;)

PROMO CODE
Every month, Green Wagon will send you a big, huge box of snacks in resealable pouches or you can buy specific packages on Amazon. All of the snacks are 100% organic, gluten free, and vegan. The box does cost $40 a month, but we all know real organic food isn't cheap and you do get 10 bags of curated snacks. Plus, you get 15% off if you use the code NOMNOM.

GIVEAWAY
One of my readers will win a box of Green Wagon Foods! Enter below by 12/17 at 11 pm anyone's time. I'll choose a winner the next morning.

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Special thanks to the wonderful people at Green Wagon Foods for this review and giveaway opportunity!

No Cook Glitter Snow-doh Recipe... only 3 ingredients!

We made this recipe tonight and the kiddos absolutely loved it! I loved it, too, b/c it was the easiest playdoh I've ever made of the 3 recipes I've tried so far. It is simply glitter, corn starch, and lotion all mixed together. Use one container of corn starch and about 14 oz. lotion--add a large squirt of lotion at a time, stir, and then gauge how much more you need. As far as that goes, I had way too much lotion. This was an excuse to use up a bottle of it that had been sitting under my bathroom counter for too long! This playdoh is super soft--soft to play with and leaves your hands very soft. It's also very moldable. My kiddos made some super cute creations!

What kind of creations do your kiddos like to make with playdoh?

Super Duper Games: Fun and Educational Christmas Gifts! #Discount #HolidayGiftGuide

We love Super Duper's games! Every time we get a new one in the mail, the kiddos and I are so excited to open it up and play!

The whimsical lyrics of The Twelve Days Of Christmas can get a little dizzying with pipers piping, maids a milking and a partridge in a pear tree! If you have a child who struggles a little with language, vocabulary or speech, December 25 is the perfect day to unwrap Word Joggers, Go For The Dough or Turtle Talk! Plus Super Duper Publications has so many other educational games for practicing just about any topic you could imagine. Here is our list of our 4 tried and true favorites:

Magnetic Mealtime Game
My kiddos kept getting their food groups mixed up! I needed something like this. The game is fun and simple, needing no help from mommy (except to check it quickly at the end). They had fun learning their food groups with it and now they're pros.

Magnetic Telling Time Game
Like the Food Group Game, this one is also magnetic. My children have also been practicing telling time. They play this game and quiz each other. It's fun and simple! And there's just something about magnets that kids love.

Hopping Frogs Board Game
My 6 year old son's favorite! He practices those hard P, B, T, K, G, and F sounds when he plays.

Story Prediction Fun Deck
This one would be a wonderful stocking stuffer! My daughters especially like it, and it comes with this really cool "super secret decoder"--shine the light on the card and it will light up the correct answer. I love the self-checking aspect here, and my daughters love seeing if they can predict the right answer.

Each game or activity lists right on the website what skills it improves, so you’re sure to get the item that works on the specific skill you would be hoping to target with your child. I chose some products that were meant for kiddos from K-3rd grade. All of them were perfect for my 1st and 3rd graders! We reviewed Grammar Gumballs Board Game, Ask & Answer "Wh" Bingo, and MagneTalk Match-up Adventure Kit.

We've been having so much fun with all of them but our favorite is the "Wh" Bingo. It's really, really fun! It's a Who, What, When, Where, and Why Bingo Game! The parent or teacher asks a "Wh" question and kiddos have to quickly decide what the answer is and find the picture on their game board.

Our first winner!

We also had a lot of fun playing Grammar Gumballs. Grammar Gumballs is a sweet game for teaching and reinforcing basic grammar skills in young children. It targets nine of the early morphemes and grammatical structures. Children with language and learning difficulties often leave these structures out of their speech. Grammar Gumballs includes five levels of difficulty for each illustration. The game was pretty easy for my kiddos but it was good practice using correct grammar. What I especially liked about it is that there are 6 levels so you choose which question is right for the child's level.

Excited to play

Choose wisely!

You don't eat them, silly!

Last up, we played with The MagneTalk Match-up Adventures Kit. The first time we used it, we opened it up while we were babysitting. The 2 year old I was sitting especially liked it. This game is perfect for following directions, giving directions, storytelling, improving vocabulary, and a whole lot more. It does say it's recommended for pre-K through 5th grade but my own children lost interest in it pretty fast. It seems much better for preschoolers or perhaps Kindergarteners. Children can either play games with it or can create scenes and "go" camping, swimming through the ocean, visiting the grocery store, taking a picnic, and traveling to outer space.

What I really like about all of these games is that they included a reproducible workbook with a CD-ROM to make homework and group activities a breeze. That way, you can combine homework with the games. It's great!

DISCOUNT
15% off everything! Use code DDV8NE33 until Dec. 20th.

Plus, shipping is always free on all orders of $20 or more for anywhere in the US and Canada!

Which game do you think sounds best?

Special thanks to Super Duper for providing us with this review opportunity!

Meet Our New Puppy! #PetbrosiaFree10LbBag!

Special thanks to the wonderful people at Petbrosia for this review opportunity!All opinions are honest and our own.

We have a new family member. Isn't she adorable? Her name is Lucy, and we love her to pieces! She is the sweetest thing. She dances for treats, plays fetch, is so soft and cuddly, not to mention absolutely playful. She brings so much joy to us! I stumbled across Petbrosia when I was looking for a healthy puppy food for her. I've ordered Petbrosia twice and have been so happy with them! The food is perfect for Lucy--it's actually tailor-made to her breed, size, and age. She has the free-run chicken variety, and there is also grain-free salmon. They make food for both dogs and cats. Plus, the super nice people there also send additional goodies along!

In Lucy's first box of Petbrosia, she received a free bag of puppy cookies which have lasted us a couple weeks. Every morning, she does a little dance for her cookie and then she eats her breakfast. After we bless her meal, of course. ;) So far, we haven't paid a penny for Lucy's pet food b/c of the great promos Petbrosia has. Her first box of food was complimentary for bloggers, while her second 10 lb box was free (even free shipping!) when we signed up for the autofill plan (a plan which will send us a box of food whenever we run out, once again tailor made for Lucy's needs). Very convenient and affordable! We love it!

FREE 10 Pound Bag of PETBROSIA
Just use the coupon code THANKSGIVING14 when checking out! :) Shipping is free, too!

Brilliant Sky Toys: An Incredible Toy Store #HolidayGiftGuide

When I heard about Brilliant Sky Toys, I so wished there was one nearby! As there isn't, I was still blessed to be able to look through their list of award winning toys, books, and games to get Christmas ideas for my kiddos. The store has come up with a list of 10 Brilliance Award winners, and my children and I definitely applaud their choices. I had the opportunity to review 4 of these toys, all of which are wonderful!

We chose to review the Plus-Plus Mini-Basic (a super cool building set all of my kiddos love. It came with instructions to build SO many things and, once you've got down how they work, they foster so much creativity!), Lottie Dolls (a favorite in our house), Create Your Own Storybook (my daughters love writing and this actually publishes their book!), and the Sew Cute Owl Set (my daughter has been wanting to learn to sew and she absolutely loved this set, and so did I). I love this selection of toys!

Sewing her Sew Cute Owl

A Plus-Plus Mini Cooper...

...with a guy driving it!

And here's a video of one of our favorite toys: the "Autumn Leaves Lottie Doll". I absolutely love Lottie Dolls! They're so sweet, and so perfect--very original and unique, and a great option over Barbies. Many of them are scientists, animal lovers, nature girls, and just all out active and charming little ladies.

For the fifth year in a row, parents and grandparents alike can use this brilliant list as a guide for holiday shopping, birthday presents and Thanksgiving homecoming gifts. The Brilliant Sky chain chooses its Brilliance Award Winners upon quality, the value of open-ended play and the simple beauty of a child's fascination and delight. With the huge variety of toy buying occasions coming up, there’s truly something for everyone represented in this great group of toys. From finger puppets, arts & crafts kits, dolls and building bricks, it’s evident that childhood playtime really hasn't changed that much!

The Top 10 Brilliance Award Winners:

· Squigz Starter Set (24 pieces)

· Plus-Plus Mini-Basic (480 pieces)

· Lottie Dolls

· Doodle Quest

· Create Your Own Storybook

· Super Stadium Baseball Game

· LoopDeLoom

· Sew Cute Sets

· Illustrated Adventure Stories and Illustrated Fairy Tales

· Paint Your Own Porcelain Bowls

Find out if there's a Brilliant Sky Toys & Books at their store map. If you get an opportunity to drop by the store and do a little Christmas shopping, please come back and let me know. I'd love to hear all about it!

Special thanks to the wonderful people at KidsStuffPR and Brilliant Sky Toys & Books for providing us with this review and giveaway opportunity.

GIVEAWAY
One of my readers will receive her choice of toy from the Brilliance Awards list! Enter below by November 14th at 11 pm anyone's time. I'll choose a winner the next morning. Best of luck!

You can see all of the Brilliance Award Winners by clicking here. Which toy from the list would your child like best?

Redecorating! A Curtain & Bath Outlet Gift Card Giveaway #HolidayGiftGuide

Curtain and Bath Outlet has so many gorgeous products! I chose to review their Portland Grommet Curtain Panels in blue. My little guy often wakes up with the sunrise and I thought these they'd be perfect to block out that early sunlight, especially because they come in his favorite color. These curtains have a textured look, give the windows depth, and save energy (pic coming soon!). They also block out light, just like I was hoping! They're super affordable at about $14 each. Their store also has bedding, bath, rugs, accessories, and furniture. Definitely a store I'm going to be remembering next time I decide to redecorate! I would so love a gift card from there for Christmas... which is why I've added them to our 2014 Holiday Gift Guide.

Giveaway
One winner will receive a $25 e-gift card! Enter below by 11/28 at 11 pm anyone's time. I'll choose a winner the next morning.

Discount
Use Coupon Code sisterhood10 for an additional 10% discount from 11/18 - 12/18! An amazing deal!

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Special thanks to the wonderful people at Curtain & Bath Outlet for providing me with this review opportunity.

Become Your Own Makeup Artist! #PaulaDorfBrows

I was introduced to Paula Dorf Cosmetics through their new 2+1 for Brows, a product I instantly fell in love with! I use it along with their Perfect Brow Brush. Together, they create perfect looking brows that last all day. 2 flattering colors + 1 light wax = natural-looking brows. The 2+1 Brows creates a perfect color match and fills in any missing hairs or imperfections for brows that last all day. You run your brow brush along the wax, and then along the color you'd like, and then along your brow. It comes in brunette, blonde, red, and neutral. It costs $26 and lasts for months... plus you get the super nice brush for free. As you can see from my before and after pics, it creates a nicer, smoother look. I like it so much! And it's so easy to use!