The Charm Factory Give-a-way!!!

CHARM FACTORY REVIEW & GIVE-A-WAY

You guys should all be so EXCITED!!! You all know that I LOVE jewelry and the awesome people over at the Charm Factory let me choose one of their heart charm bracelets to review just in time for Valentines day! Not only do I get to review one, but one of you lucky readers will win a heart bracelet of your choice as well!!!

(I'm wearing it in this cheesy picture lol)

The Charm Factory is known for their unique, high quality, sterling silver charms & charm bracelets. The Charm Factory has many other items like -engraved jewelry tags, chain & bracelets, beads, lockets, cell phone straps, pendants & pins, liquid silver, message jewelry and so much more! Their charms and beads are .925 sterling silver and manufactured in the USA!!! You don't hear that very often anymore! They are also lead and nickel free.

The Charm Factory is located in Albuquerque, New Mexico. They offer free shipping in the United States when your order is over $25. They also offer worldwide shipping!

So after checking out all of the gorgeous heart bracelets I chose the Zircon Crystal Heart Charm Bracelet $24.99. It is made with Swarovski crystals and .925 sterling silver. I LOVE this bracelet. The picture on the website does not do it justice. The crystals are so sparkly in real life! It's just a very fun, pretty bracelet to wear. It's super light weight! I've been layering it with some of my other bracelets and it's perfect for that, or to wear alone.

GIVE-A-WAY

So let the fun begin... In order to be entered to win one of their heart bracelet's valued at $24.99 it is MANDATORY for you to visit The Charm Factory's website and view all of their heart bracelets and then come back here and tell me which heart bracelet you would choose!

(You must leave a separate comment for each thing that you do!)

ADDITIONAL ENTRIES:

1. MANDATORY-visit The Charm Factory's website and then come back here and tell me which heart bracelet you would choose.

2. Become a FAN of Charm Factory on Facebook

3. Grab The Jackson Five Family button (on the top right of my page) and add it to your blog (make sure you leave me your websites url so I can check it out)

4. Sign up to receive The Jackson Five Family posts in your inbox (at the bottom of my page)

5. Become a Follower of The Jackson Five Family blog

6. Mention this give-a-way on your blog with my link and then leave me a link to your blog so I can check it out! (you don't have to do a whole post on it, just mention it on your daily blog and post my link)

Rules: Open to readers WORLDWIDE (how exciting is that) Give-a-way starts today January 28th and ends Febuary 4th at 11:59 pm EST. The winner will be randomly chosen and will have 48 hours to respond.

Thanks to CHARM FACTORY the sponsor and good luck to everyone entering!

(This product was sent to me free of charge. These are my honest opinions and I was in no way paid to say anything you read here!)

When I was trying to get pictures Grady kept wanting his taken. He won't keep his diaper on and so tonight I put a pair of undies on him..when I was taking his picture he got the funniest look on his face...check out the 2nd picture, he peed down his leg! It was too funny!!!


Jace was the exact opposite, he did NOT want his picture taken...to bad...

My new blog button!!!

IF YOU TRIED TO ADD MY BUTTON AND IT DIDN'T WORK, IT SHOULD NOW! I FIXED IT!!!

Please check out my new blog button to the right and feel free to put it on your blog! I created it myself, so I'm pretty proud of it lol!!!

I also want to let you all know that I have several awesome reviews/give-a-ways coming up in the next few weeks that I am so excited about and I think you all will be too! Keep checking back for those!

So Grady has been stripping today. Yes, he's been taking ALL of his clothes off, even his diaper! He will not leave anything on. I've dressed him so many times. So I finally put his diaper on. Put a pair of little undies over them. Then I put a pair of zip up pj's on him that have a button on the top and a sweatshirt over that! Can you imagine what he looks like? So far though the layering has been very effective, ha! Thank goodness it's nasty outside and we aren't going anywhere. He also has been climbing on everything lately. My mom was making cookies the other day and this is him climbing on the counter! Again with no pants on, but at least he isn't naked like today!


Jace was on the computer today and was asking me some very interesting question's. He first asked me what dreams are and if he was dreaming right now! Then he went on to ask me how to say Spanish in Chinese! WOW...luckily my brother, the smarty pants that he is looked it up and posted it on my Facebook page..it looks like this "西班牙语" and is pronounced like this "

xī bān yá yǔ" wow... he is only 4! I can't wait to see what he comes up with when he's like 8 or so LOL. I may be in a lot of trouble in the near future! He has also been using the word "frustrated" a lot. He was frustrated at school the other day because they got new homework folders and he got blue but wanted the green! Then he was frustrated at my dad because he was on the computer and asked if he was going to be on there for 10 hours! Everything is 10 hours these days. He's been cracking me up :)

I'M AN AUNT AGAIN

My sister Jenny and her husband Chad just had their 2nd baby boy! They welcomed Dallas Jennings into the world on Monday January 18th and we couldn't be happier for them. He weighed 9 lbs 4 oz and was 20.75 inches long! Their 4 year old Cody Thomas only weighed 7 lbs 11 oz, talk about a BIG difference!

We went to the hospital last night and saw him. My sister lives 2 hours away and she didn't know we were coming!!! She was so surprised when we walked in. I had called her earlier in the day and told her that Jace had preschool and he was the "leaderbug" and had to bring treats and he couldn't miss. He didn't get out of school until 3:15, little did she know we were leaving as soon as he was done and dropped the boys off at Craig's moms and we would be on our way!


I've never told you guys about my sister and I. My sister and I only met 7 years ago! Now you are all thinking, HUH? When my parents 1st got together my mom got pregnant right away. They were young, not married and my dad was recently divorced with a child of his own. Not only were they young but they were broke and just decided that they couldn't care for a child at that time. They decided to give the baby up for adoption at birth. My mom delivered and never even saw the baby :( What a hard choice that had to be!!!


My parents ended up staying together and getting married. They had my brother Josh and then me. I remember in grade school my parents sat my brother and I down and told us they wanted to tell us something. I remember thinking are they going to tell us Santa isn't real or the Easter Bunny..because if so we already knew! Ha! No it wasn't that at all. It was much more complicated than that. They told us that we had a sister out there and that they had given her up for adoption at birth! WOW!!!

As I grew older I became so curious. I couldn't believe that I had a sister, let alone a full blooded one! I searched the Internet with the little information my parents did have. Her birth date and where she was born! Somehow I came across a guy that had a vital statistics book which is no longer open to the public. He gave me her name, her mothers maiden name and her fathers last name. I googled her name and I found tons of people with her same name but nothing stood out. We figured she might be married though and if so, her maiden name information wasn't going to help anyways.

One day out of the blue one of my mom's old co-workers called her. She worked with my mom when she gave the baby up for adoption. She said she had something to tell her. She said that a lady that she knew called her and was telling her that another lady they knew had someone stop by her house. This lady lives outside of our town on a highway and there is a cemetery right beside her house. The cemetery's name is my mom's maiden name. Well it just so happened that my sister and her parents were driving through on their way from Columbus to Indiana. My sister knew my mom's last name and saw this very small sign by chance and stopped. Well her parent's decided to go to the old farm house beside it and just talk to the people and tell them their story. The lady took all of the information and said if she ever came across any information that she would be in touch. She then told the one lady, and that lady told my mom's old coworker and she knew exactly who she was looking for!!! She also gave my mom my sisters phone number and we called right away!!! We were in shock, very nervous, but so EXCITED at the same time! We called almost immediately and met within days.


Here it is almost 7 years later and we have a great relationship! We are so much alike, mannerisms, characteristics, even our names. My mom named me Jenna Linn and her mom named her Jennifer Lynne and they never knew that until we met!!! Now we both have 2 boys of our own! It's like it was just meant to be! We've heard of so many stories where people have met their birth parents and families and it's ended terribly. In our case it couldn't be any better! Most days it still amazes me. When I really think about it, it blows my mind. What are the chances of them driving through so close to our town, seeing this very small sign and then actually stopping and telling someone. You would have thought it would have ended there, but it didn't and I believe that it was just meant to be! You can't describe it any other way!


Here is a link to story in our local paper!!! Don't mind the horrible picture! Wow what 7 years can do LOL CLICK HERE

AND THE WINNER OF THE SOCK PUPPET KIT IS......................

*ANNIE*

CONGRATS ANNIE!!! YOU HAVE 48 HOURS TO CONTACT ME WITH YOUR INFO :)

THANKS AGAIN TO CREATIVITY FOR KIDS FOR LETTING US REVIEW AND GIVE AWAY A KIT!!! WE LOVE OUR KIT AND KNOW THAT ANNIE WILL TOO!!!

BEAUTY SCHOOL REUNION AND EMME'S 1ST BIRTHDAY

Last night I got together with some of my old beauty school friends! It's hard to believe that it's been like 9 years since we all graduated from Ohio State Beauty Academy! We met at Panera Bread and had so much fun catching up on the present and reminiscing about the past! Two of our other friends Haley and Mindy couldn't make it and we were bummed :( We decided our next reunion will be in Tampa because Johanna and her family just moved there about 7 months ago! I'm looking forward to it whenever that day will be, ha!

Me, Ameya, Johanna and Amanda - no we didn't plan our outfits to match this well, too funny!

Me and Ameya- or as we called her in beauty school "Princess Amey"

I just have to tell you about this next thing! While we were there talking and catching up we noticed this little girl who was about 5 carrying what we believed to be a newborn baby. She was walking with her parents and we were like what is she doing holding a newborn like that? Then we were like wait is that real? No that can't be a real baby, why would anyone let a toddler carry a newborn around. When this family walked past our table we stopped them and realized it was a baby doll that just happened to look like a real baby! We were amazed at how real it looked, from the skin to the hair. It was the weirdest thing I've ever seen! So we asked what it was and they are called Reborn Babies. I looked them up and oh my goodness they retail for around $400! GASP!!! They seriously are very real looking. I found one on Ebay here that has 17 bids at $1800, WHAT? OMG what would you do with a baby doll that cost that much money? This particular one looks soooooo real! It's almost creepy. Check it out, do you really think that is a doll in the picture? Noway that has to be a real human baby! CRAZY!!!

Today we went to my brothers house to celebrate my niece Emme's 1st birthday! I can't believe that it has been 1 year ago already! She is getting so big and she is so darn cute!

Emme and her daddy Josh

Emme and her favorite Aunt Jenna ;)

Grannybug with Emme

Emme and her "smash cake" that Aunt Courtney made for her - boy did she think it was YUMMY!!!

I LOVE buying gifts for her. I love my boys and all, but you just don't find cute, fun stuff like you do when buying for a girl! One thing I bought her were these Bling Pacifiers by Munchkin similar to this one shown. One even had a clock on the front of it. It's NEVER to early to start accessorizing -right?
We had such a fun time at her party today! We LOVE you Emme and we hope you had lots of fun at your very 1st birthday bash!!!

CREATIVITY FOR KIDS SOCK PUPPET KIT GIVE-A-WAY

Right before Christmas CREATIVITY FOR KIDS sent us one of their craft kits for review. We were so excited when the Make Your Own Sock Puppet kit showed up on our front steps! Jace just couldn't wait until I opened it, he was so ready to get started on his.


We were pleasantly surprised when we opened it and saw how many different pieces came with this kit and how many options there are when making your own puppet! We were also so happy with the socks themselves too. They are made out of the softest material and they are a really good size for kids hands!


Jace went to town on his. The kit was very easy for him to do by himself. Most of the pieces have sticky tabs on them that you just peal off the paper and stick the item where you want it. The only help he needed was with the pom-poms as you have to use the plastic needle that comes with them and put the strings through to the inside and tie them which wasn't a big deal at all. Grady needed a little more assistance than Jace but that was expected with a 1 year old.


The final products turned out so good. They LOVE playing with their puppets and they have held up very well! What a great activity for any kid and to spark their imagination!

Now if that puppet with Grady's fooler would just take it away for good! Look at Grady looking at it so seriously ha ha! Like give me that back, that's for my mouth, not yours!!!


We saved the 3rd puppet for the little girl that I babysit for Kameryn. She had so much fun making her's very girly adding some pink hair, a purple mouth and some fun polka dots!

Now the fun begins for all of you! Creativity for Kids is going to give away a free Make Your Own Sock Puppet kit to one of you! YAY!!!

*MANDATORY entry must be submitted for your chance to win!

MANDATORY ENTRY:
Go check out CREATIVITY FOR KIDS and come back here and tell me which kit you would most likely buy for your kids!

EXTRA ENTRIES:

-Sign up to follow The Jackson Five Family -1 entry
-Sign up to receive The Jackson Five Family feeds through e-mail- 2 entries
-Blog about this give-a-way on your blog and make sure you leave me a comment & your link so I can come check it out! -3 entries

(Make sure you leave me a separate comment for each thing you do for it to be counted)

RULES: Open to residents of the US & Canada only (sorry everyone else!!!) Give-a-way ends 1 week from today January 17, 2010 at 11:59 PM EST. The winner will be randomly chosen by a third party and will have 48 hours to respond with your shipping details!

Thank You so much Creativity for Kids and good luck to all of you entering!!!

(These products were sent to me free of charge to review and I was not paid in any way to say anything you read here! These were my honest opinions of the product that I reviewed!!!)

PHOTOGRAPHY CLASS

PHOTOGRAPHY CLASS

On Monday I started an online photography course. It is a beginner class that teaches you about the setting on your camera, what to have in your photographs, uncluttering them and a whole bunch of other things. I am SUPER excited about learning more about photography. I love it, but am absolutely clueless about so many things!!! So I am hopeful that this class will teach me and inspire me to do some more things with my photos.

I also have Photoshop Elements 7. Do any of you use any editing software? Wow does that program have a lot of things that I have no clue how to use. There are some easy functions, but many complicated ones that I need to learn about!

So tonight I was practicing some shots for my class so I will leave you with a few of them...don't be afraid to tell me how bad they are, ha!!!




Well it is still freezing here. Jace started preschool again today from being off for Christmas vacation and my doors were frozen shut! AHHHHH I hate that! Luckily Craig didn't go in until noon today and he got them opened for me. I am done with this cold weather. If it never had to get under 60 degrees again I would be just FINE with that!!!

At preschool today Jace was a little wild. They line up when they are about ready to go down to their classroom and do you think my child would line up? Nope, he was climbing on the stairs and just to busy. Then his teacher asked them what they got for Christmas one by one and Jace was using some weird voice and wouldn't tell her a thing. She asked him if he had a new sweater on which he did, and he was like no it's an old one! Ughhh, he's so silly sometimes! They did tell me though today that he can write his name all by himself. Usually he just goof's around when doing it, but they said he has done it a few times without even asking him or helping him! So I am excited that he is learning things, even he if won't tell us anything.

Well I am going to go get on the treadmill. I've been "trying" to eat healthier and did 2 miles last night..so let's keep going tonight...no stopping me now (uh yeah that sounds really good, ha ha!) How do you all stay motivated? Food is just so good to me - I know sad isn't!

PRESENTS, HAIRCUTS AND TOYS

Yesterday my niece Shiann came over to hang out with us. The boys love when she is here. I told Jace that she was coming and he kept saying "how many hours until she comes" then he would ask "how many miles does she have to come?" He is so into time and distance right now. Last night about 8 he peeked out the blinds and was like "look mommy, it's midnight, it's time to go to bed!" He also went to my parent's front door yesterday and was drawing on the fogged up window and said "look grandma I'm doing science!" It's so fun to listen to him right now, the things he says are so interesting and funny at this age.


We gave Shi her Christmas presents yesterday. Emme and Grady were helping her unwrap them.

After she got done opening her gifts the kids got out some toys. They got so many musical toy's for Christmas and my mom was helping them make a band while I cut Sara's hair. Talk about noisy!!! Jace has been banging on the drum since Christmas, and Grady has been using his flute to drive us all crazy!

Here is miss Sara after I cut her hair! Doesn't she look so pretty :)

I also cut Shi's hair yesterday. We cut about 3 inches off of it! Here is Shi before...

and here she is after! Doesn't she look cute!!!

Well now I must venture out to Wal-Mart. I am not excited to go out at all. It is a whole 17 degrees outside and it feels much colder with the wind. I am ready for summer how about you guys? Bring me some warm temps and sunshine already!!! Unfortunately we live in Ohio and that is very unlikely for quite sometime...BOOO :(