The Familyman's Christmas Treasury - Audio Collection Review

My family had the privilege of trying the The Familyman's Christmas Treasury - Audio Collection Digital Downloads from The Familyman for this review to use in conjunction with our own homeschool curriculum. This is a Homeschool Review Crew Review. All opinions expressed are my own or those of my family.

The Christmas Treasury Collection is available on 6 CDs or as a digital download. Each story is about 15 to 30 minutes long. These audio stories are great for reinforcing the birth of Christ and the true meaning of Christmas.

The collection includes six Christmas favorites by Todd Wilson and narrated by master storyteller Jim Hodges:

1. Cootie McKay's Nativity
2. Captain Chaos and The Manger Blaster
3. The Stranger
4. The Bishop's Dream
5. Harold Grubbs and the Christmas Vest
6. Gladys Remembers Christmas

We also received two Bonus Tracks: 

• The Secret of the Snow Village
• It's Called Christmas

How We Used This and Our Thoughts:

We received  one CD of the set and the digital downloads to everything. These were easily downloaded and played well. I love that I can take these in my car and listen to them while driving too.
 
We first listened to Cootie McKay's Nativity. It is about a town with a nativity mishap. Cootie McKay is called into action to save the town's Christmas even though he doesn't know anything about what a Nativity is or how it has anything to do with Christmas. This story is heartwarming and has some very funny moments that we enjoyed very much and couldn't help but chuckle at.

Next we listened to Captain Chaos and The Manger Blaster. This story is about a little boy who wishes that the story of the nativity was more exciting and that the manger never happened. He has a larger than life "dream" that actually comes true and discovers that you can't have Christmas without Jesus. This story reminds me of A Christmas Carol or It's A Wonderful Life in that it shows what life would be like differently for the characters.

The Stranger was listened to next. I received this one in both CD and digital format. This is about a small town where a stranger comes to visit. This stranger is shunned by the community even as a cold winter storm blows in. The last house the stranger visits he is finally let into and what proceeds is just what this family needed. This has a great message to it of kindness to others.

The Bishop's Dream was a story about Saint Nicholas. I know the story well of the real man who helped children in unfortunate circumstances learn about Jesus and gave gifts in secret to people who were in need to lift their spirits. In this story though Nicholas is just a Bishop and has a very vivid dream of the future. We liked the ending and know that if this story were a true one Nicholas would have done the same thing in the end.

Harold Grubbs and the Christmas Vest is a great story about how Christ can change a person to become a better one. The vest and the items in its pockets has a lot of symbolism and meaning. We think the vest is neat even though it is worn and old.

Gladys Remembers Christmas is a tear-jerking story about a lady named Gladys that lost her mother when she was 6 years old. She doesn't feel loved, hates Christmas, and hates her name. She goes back to the old house she grew up in to find a box in the attic for her father. Memories come rushing back and she is "visited" by her mother. Remembering these things changes her feelings about the holiday and her name.

These audio stories are perfect for the Christmas holiday and family time! They are fantastically narrated and written. We enjoyed listening to these and are excited to listen to the two bonus tracks as well closer to Christmas time. We recommend these Christmas stories to anyone wishing to feel more of the joyous spirit and warmth this special Christmas season.

BUY IT
You can purchase The Familyman's Christmas Treasury - Audio Collection (6 CDs) for only $25.00 or individually in digital download mp3 format for $3.99 each.

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Read other homeschool curriculum reviews for The Familyman's Christmas Treasury - Audio Collection...

Precious Moments 35 Days of Loving, Caring, and Sharing: Summer Fun Energy Offer and Review

I received these figurines free to facilitate this review. Affiliate links may be in this posting. Thanks for supporting my blog.

Precious Moments is having its 35th Anniversary and they are celebrating with “35 Days of Loving, Caring and Sharing” – an event celebrating their wonderful fans. Over the years, the fans have given so much through their love of all things Precious Moments. Now Precious Moments is delighted to give back to the fans! Beginning May 22 through June 25th, on their Facebook they will announce a new way to save on some of the fan favorite Precious Moments gifts and collectibles each day. Plus, opportunities to enter giveaways for your chance to win Precious Moments gifts and more! It’s going to be fun! The "35 Days of Loving, Caring and Sharing" event also all leads up to their unveiling of a very special figurine. So stay tuned! The theme of today, day 34, is Energy.

I received two figurines to celebrate this special anniversary and day: Decorative Birdbath Rotating Figurine, Music Box and “Girl With Tulip Flower” Perpetual Calendar Figurine. The Decorative Birdbath Rotating Figurine, Music Box has three adorable feathered friends perched on a birdbath. When you wind this up it plays “In The Garden” while the top turns around and around. This is a great gift for a garden lover or bird enthusiast. I love this beautiful music player! It plays lovely music. The “Girl With Tulip Flower” Perpetual Calendar Figurine is perfect to decorate my desk as it lets me know exactly what month and day it is. With the words, “Every Day Is A Blessing” it reminds us of this everyday as we change the date. This sweet figurine has a girl dressed like her favorite tulip flower with a small ladybug meandering nearby. These match my other garden themed Precious Moments figurines perfectly. I love them and know you will too! They all have sweet messages and will bring Summer Fun to anyone's home.

Day 34 of 35 deal: Save 15% on Summer Fun gifts with Coupon Code: FUNINTHESUN at PreciousMoments. *Offer is valid today only, June 24th, 2016 through 11:59 p.m. CDT.

DISCLOSURE/DISCLAIMER: Thanks to Precious Moments for sending me these figurines for free to review. My thoughts are mine and my family's own opinion and have not been altered by anyone else. I did not receive any other compensation for doing this review. Affiliate links may be in this posting. Thanks for supporting my blog.

#35DaysOfLovingCaringAndSharing #PreciousMoments #MyPreciousMoments #LifesPreciousMoments #PreciousMomentsSale #Summer #FunInTheSun #SummerFun #Camping

Precious Moments 35 Days of Loving, Caring, and Sharing: Beautiful Wishes Humility Offer and Review

I received these figurines free to facilitate this review. Affiliate links may be in this posting. Thanks for supporting my blog.

Precious Moments is having its 35th Anniversary and they are celebrating with “35 Days of Loving, Caring and Sharing” – an event celebrating their wonderful fans. Over the years, the fans have given so much through their love of all things Precious Moments. Now Precious Moments is delighted to give back to the fans! Beginning May 22 through June 25th, on their Facebook they will announce a new way to save on some of the fan favorite Precious Moments gifts and collectibles each day. Plus, opportunities to enter giveaways for your chance to win Precious Moments gifts and more! It’s going to be fun! The "35 Days of Loving, Caring and Sharing" event also all leads up to their unveiling of a very special figurine. So stay tuned! The theme of today, day 26, is Humility.

I received three figurines to celebrate this special anniversary and day: You Are My Joy, “You Make Everyday Brighter” Figurine, and You Are My Sunshine. The You Are My Joy figurine is a sweet little flower girl with a peach poppy and a glittering dress to match sends a lovely message of joy and garden bliss. The “You Make Everyday Brighter” Figurine is a very cute flower girl dressed in a yellow shirt and petal skirt to match the daisy flower she stands with. Daisies make me so happy when I see them. They are such a wonderful perennial! The You Are My Sunshine figurine is a cheerful little flower girl hugging a sunflower. She is dressed to match in a shimmering yellow dress. I love sunflowers! They always brighten my day when I see them and this figurine does too. These figurines are so adorable! Each one has a glittering skirt, a ladybug, and a jewel in the center of the flower. I love all of the items on sale today! They have sweet messages and will bring Beautiful Wishes to anyone's home.

Day 26 of 35 deal: Save 15% on Beautiful Wishes gifts with Coupon Code: BEAUTIFULWISHES at PreciousMoments. *Offer is valid only on today, June 16th, 2016 through 11:59 p.m. CDT.

DISCLOSURE/DISCLAIMER: Thanks to Precious Moments for sending me these figurines for free to review. My thoughts are mine and my family's own opinion and have not been altered by anyone else. I did not receive any other compensation for doing this review. Affiliate links may be in this posting. Thanks for supporting my blog.

#‎35DaysOfLovingCaringAndSharing‬ ‪#‎PreciousMoments‬ ‪#‎MyPreciousMoments‬ ‪#‎LifesPreciousMoments‬ ‪#‎PreciousMomentsSale‬ ‪#‎YouAreMySunshine‬ ‪#‎Flowers‬ ‪#‎BeautifulWishes‬

Best of Warner Bros 100 Film Mother's Day Giveaway & Blog App

I have the opportunity to give away the Best of WB 100 Film Collection ($597.92 MSRP) below for posting this information. All information was provided by Warner Brothers and PartnersHub.

We think that most can agree... Moms are the best - and they do a lot for us! Now it’s time to return the favor and celebrate this Mother’s Day by giving mom the movie night she deserves! Watching a classic flick together is the perfect opportunity to catch up and share stories with your family... tell them something that they never knew about Mom!

Announcing the Best of WB 100 Film Collection ($597.92 MSRP) and The Mother’s Day Movie Night Blog App!



Blog App:

• Guess-the-Scene Game! How well do you know the silver screen’s most famous love stories and sing-a-longs? Play the Guess-the-Scene game to test your knowledge on the world’s greatest films! The quicker you pick, the more points you score. Ready? Action! 
• Words in Film! Select your mood and let quotes and images from film express how you’re feeling! 
• Movie Night Conversation Starters! Watching a classic flick together is the perfect opportunity to catch up and share stories... this Mother’s Day make it a point to connect with your family and give them a chance to learn something about mom they never knew! 
• Get Social! Tweet with the #BestofWB hashtag and get excited for the release of The Best of WB 100 Film Collection.

My Perfect Mother’s Day - This funny Fill-in-the-Blank sheet is all about your DREAM Mothers Day! Click the image above to download your own. Fill it out, and hang it on the fridge so that the whole family can see :)

Good morning, it’s your dream Mother’s Day! Anything can happen!

Waking up after sleeping in, I’m greeted with a breakfast of ________________ (food).

I’m spending the morning relaxing while watching my all-time favorite musical ___________ (movie title). I remember watching it for the first time when I was ________ years old.

Of course, I can’t watch this movie without my favorite movie snack ___________ !

For lunch, my friends and I are taken to dine at ________________ (restaurant). Bouquets of _________ (flower) greet us on arrival.

On our way home, our car unexpectedly hits a time warp and we’re teleported back to the set of my favorite romance film!

I find myself playing the role of my favorite character ___________________ (character).

Suddenly, I’m hollywood’s next big star! I’m strutting down every red carpet and being invited to all the exclusive premieres... I’m even dating the cutest movie star __________ and our celebrity couple name is _________________.

Suddenly I wake up and find myself safely back in my bed. Looks like I must have dozed off and started dreaming!

WIN IT
Prize: Win the Best of WB 100 Film Collection ($597.92 MSRP): 100 movies including all 22 of Warner Bros. Library’s Best Picture™ winners on 55 discs presented in book style premium packaging. Plus two all-new documentaries: Tales from the Warner Bros. Lot and The Warner Bros. Lot Tour. With hours of commentaries, behind-the-scenes featurettes and more on select films. Also includes a limited edition 27” x 40” poster, plus a postcard series of Warner Bros. movie posters designed by legendary Bill Gold. MORE INFO: http://bit.ly/Vugkdd

I am trying out Rafflecopter on my blog. Please click on this post link if you do not see the script for it below. Also, if there is anything that is wrong with it let me know by emailing me: finamoon AT gmail DOT com I will try my best at fixing it. Thanks for being awesome readers!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

DISCLOSURE/DISCLAIMER: Because I am posting about the Best of Warner Bros 100 Film Mother's Day blog app I am getting a Best of WB 100 Film Collection ($597.92 MSRP) free for my readers as a giveaway. Thanks to PartnersHub and Warner Bros. for providing me this promotion information and free product. My thoughts are mine and my family's own opinion and have not been altered by anyone else. I did not receive any other compensation for posting this blog app and giveaway.

Ganz Tail Towns Friends Facebook Game Review

Tail Towns Friends by Ganz, the makers of Webkinz, is a new Facebook game for grownups. It has the feel of a soap opera with cute animal characters and is a very social game that you can play with your Facebook friends. It has adventures, tasks to complete and is rich with tales of intrigue, treachery and, dare I say it... forbidden love! The drama in this game is not really for little kids and the characters sometimes even swear...well they say "bleeping", but still...I thought it was very unnecessary. Unlike Webkinz, Tail Towns Friends was made for adults by Ganz. This game officially launched on October 9th.

The landscapes are semi-realistic and you can add to them, making your dream garden landscape, by completing tasks and buying items from the store to place on your property, thus developing it into something unique from how it started. There is a typical storyline that this game follows.

Then there are also hand painted figurines you can collect to create an exclusive even more elaborate storyline from the character your figurine unlocks that off shoots from the first and becomes part of the game. You can collect them all to unravel the storyline even more and give you an exclusive specialty virtual item per figurine. They retail for around $14 each. I received the Chef hand painted figurine from Ganz for the game experience. He came with a secret code that I registered in the game to unlock his exclusive storyline and “Secret Diary Goals,” which gave me more information about his life and more tasks to complete. The figurines are not only great for the codes, but they are also kinda cute and would be neat to display.

Here is my gaming experience: At first I had trouble with Tail Towns Friends. The first task to complete has you harvesting 5 crabby apple trees. The problem I was having was that the crabby apple trees were never on the Old Orchard so I couldn't harvest them (see the top picture of the above image). I cleared the dead trees and grass on the Old Orchard at the beginning thinking that would do something, but it didn't move any thing forward. I couldn't finish the quest on my own because the crabby apple trees were never there like they were supposed to be. There was also a mysterious dirt patch in front of the house and the logs in the corner weren't there either. I was thinking oh yeah I'll just buy some seeds to plant some crabby apple trees myself but there were no seeds to be bought either. The game started out very frustrating at first.

I got on a group on Facebook for Tail Towns and they couldn't help me, but were very nice and even showed me what the game should have looked like when I started out (see the bottom picture of the above image). I was told the TTF Crew were on Thanksgiving vacation since Oct. 5th (Oct. 8th is Canada's Thanksgiving and they were Canadians) and I should submit a ticket for customer support. I had already submitted a ticket on the 6th, but I waited some more. They got back to me on the 9th and fixed the glitch for me so that I could resume playing. They just completed the task of harvesting the crabby apple trees that didn't seem to exist for me and I was on my way. I guess since this is a new game they haven't ironed out all the glitches yet.

My first time on Facebook I had fallen into the Farmville trap and was spending way to much of my time on the game. I finally broke down and blocked all Facebook games, but I thought I would give this one a try. Like all games that I have found fun Tail Towns Friends also proved to be very addicting. After the glitch was fixed I set a time limit on how long I was to spend on the game to limit myself so that I could get other things done too.

In no time at all I was creating my own landscape from the Old Orchard and completing tasks from picking produce from my friend's gardens and orchards to bottling juice to making bouquets from flowers I had gathered. It was fun, but it did take up some of my precious time. I probably will play occasionally, but I don't see myself being so immersed in this game that I be on it every moment...I know better than to do that again...I hope :)

Follow and Join
The OFFICIAL Tail Towns Friends Group
Tail Towns Friends Group
Tail Towns Friends Facebook
Tail Towns Friends Twitter
Tail Towns Friends Pinterest 

DISCLOSURE/DISCLAIMER: I received product for free to facilitate my review. My thoughts are mine and my family's own opinion and have not been altered by anyone else. I did not receive any other compensation for doing this review.