If you’ve been a fan of She {hearts} It for a year now – you may have seen our initial reviews on Loving Naturals back in July of 2011.

Loving Naturals has been a part of our family ever since. It is a line we will use for as long as they are running! I am so glad I discovered them last year and share their info as often as I can, especially come summer time :)

You can read my original reviews on Loving Naturals at the links below:
Loving Naturals Body Wash/Lotion
Loving Naturals Bug Spray (a must for camping!)
Loving Naturals Sun Screen

We really do love them :) – I featured them three times last year!

I loved knowing as I lathered my kids up in the Sun screen, that it was safe for them. Free from harmful chemicals, yet still strong enough to protect them from to much sun.

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If you are looking for a great sun screen, safe for your family.

Check out the Loving Naturals Line.

Loving Naturals also carries amazing Sun Screen, anti-aging creams (which I have been using, tightens up those pores beautifully!), body washes, lotions, chap sticks and much more. It is a great shop to save in your book marks and share with your friends. We will never go back to store Sun Screen. Loving Naturals is it for our family :)

She {hearts} Freebies

Now! We of course want to giveaway a few items to some of our readers :)

So here is what we will be giving away:

Giveaway Prize Pack 1:
1-Clear Body Sunscreen 4.3 oz., 1-Clear Sunscreen Stick, 1-Clear Lips Sunscreen

Giveaway Prize Pack 2:
1-Clear Baby Sunscreen 4.3 oz., 1 Clear Baby Sunscreen Stick, 1-Clear Lips Sunscreen

So there will be two winners on this one :)

To Enter:

You need to go over to the Loving Naturals Amazon store and “like” two of their items. The way you do this is you CLICK on an item from their store, once that opens up, there is a “LIKE BUTTON” beside the product – just click that, and you are good to go.

Once you do that just comment letting us know you did :)

Additional Entries:
Leave an additional comment for each entry you complete.

• Subscribe to our feed via RSS or EMAIL (be sure to click the verification link).
• Become a Fan of She {Hearts} It.
• Become a fan of Loving Naturals.
• Tweet about this giveaway.

A winner from the U.S. will be chosen on 5-23-12 at 7PM CST. Please see our Giveaway Rules for further details.

Product Sample Provided

I recently stumbled upon a fabulous blog, written by Trina Holden, called All That Is Good.  She’s really a breath of fresh air, and she has written an excellent eBook called Real {Fast} Food.  This eBook is full of great tips and tricks on how to incorporate healthy whole foods into your diet, without spending all day in the kitchen.  She shares her family recipes as well, several of which we have tried and enjoyed.

I’ve got my list of things I want to try posted in my kitchen and I’ll continue working through it.  I’m just really thankful to have found a way to save some time and still eat the way I want to.

Watch this cute promo video made by Trina and her son for more information on Real {Fast} Food.

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Real {Fast} Food is available for just $6.

She {hearts} Freebies

Trina is offering a free copy of her eBook to 2 lucky readers!

To Enter: Check out Real {Fast} Food either at the website or by watching the promo video.  Then post your comment here with one thing you look forward to learning from the eBook.

Additional Entries: Leave an additional comment for each entry you complete.

• Subscribe to our feed via RSS or EMAIL (be sure to click the verification link).
• Become a Fan of She {Hearts} It.
• Become a fan of Real {Fast} Food.
• Tweet about this giveaway.

A winner will be chosen on May 22, 2012 at 7PM CST. Please see our Giveaway Rules for further details.

Product Sample Provided

Why is the right bedding so important for children?

When school aged children don’t get sleep, their teachers notice as it reflects on their attitude and performance. Children who don’t sleep on a school night are less productive and less able to pay attention in class. Little children go through emotional discomfort when they don’t sleep all night, especially when woken by nightmares, making them restless. That’s why it’s important to build a room that’s sleep centric!

What does a sleep centric room look like?

You can help your child by keeping things out the room that are likely to get in the way of a full night’s rest.

• Decorate and designate your child’s room as the sleeping area, while everything else stays separate. Children are kept up most often by distractions that are in the room. Make sure that all of the toys are cleaned up and put in bins before going to bed and all electronics shut off. If possible, designate another room strictly as a playroom and keep as many toys in there, as well as the television.
• Make sleeping fun! Sleeping’s not a chore, but some children will give a bit of attitude when it’s time to tuck in. Many parents tell us that our themed kids bedding sets help to set the mood for a night of peaceful slumber.

Here’s a few tips we’ve gotten:

• Pick the same time every night to go to bed, regardless of what else is happening. Then make sure that your child can’t see what time it is, and be preoccupied by the ticking of minutes rather than going to bed.
• Make the entire experience positive, by setting the scene with bright bedtime stories all in the brightly colored room with bedding that your child helped to pick out. This way your children have control over their surroundings, and are less likely to suspect something hiding in the closet.
• Provide a treat for going to bed, like playing with one toy before bedtime after every night of peaceful rest. Then make sure that toy is put away out of sight for bedtime.

Regular sleeping habits are a great skill to instill in your children. Build a room children love to sleep in with the bedding and room accessories from the kids bedding sets and crib bedding from Beyond-Bedding.com.

This post has been contributed by Beyond Bedding.

One neat gadget gift is an LED flashlight. This is a great choice for someone who spends time in the outdoors. LED flashlights are good choices because for one, they are brighter than traditional flashlights. Secondly, LED flashlights are much more budget-friendly to use because they do not need as much power from the battery. As a result, the batteries last much longer in LED flashlights. LED flashlights also come in a variety of sizes, from larger models to small ones that can slide into your pocket. Waterproof models can also be purchased.

Another gadget that makes a great gift is a solar charger. This is another sort of gift that is appropriate for someone who spends a great deal of time in the outdoors. Solar chargers can be used to charge other gadgets by using the solar energy of the sun. This is an especially useful gift when in a location where there is no access to electricity.

Perhaps the gift recipient could use some help organizing their office. An appropriate gift for this would be a USB pen. A USB pen comes with storage that makes it possible to turn files into portable items. The USB actually is a working pen but comes with a USB flash drive built inside. USB pens can come with a variety of memory capacity. This makes it possible to select an amount of storage appropriate for the recipient.

For inspiration, go to GettingPersonal.co.uk, for a great selection of gadgets and personalized gifts.

This post has been contributed by GettingPersonal.co.uk.

Of course, this ideal is not always a reality. Some children simply don’t have the discipline, capacity, or motivation to naturally excel in school. This doesn’t mean that they are not great people, children, and friends; rather, it simply shows that they may need some outside support. A parent should not be expected to metaphorically hold a child’s hand and force educational excellence upon them. But, as parents, we can still take steps to right the ship and improve performance before it is too late.

How can this be done? One of the best approaches is to provide your son or daughter with a structured academic setting – a setting that offers students the resources to grow and to thrive.

Such a setting can often be best found at private boarding schools. While history and Hollywood may have painted boarding schools as bastions for the super-rich or outposts for the highly-troubled delinquents, in reality these institutions often provide an educational community that public schools cannot match. For example, places such as the Army Navy Academy, a college preparatory boarding school for boys, grades 7-12, offer personalized academic counselors, after school tutorials, scheduled study time, peer counseling, and regular homework tracking. All these programs have the aggregate effect of encouraging students to work and learn – and of providing them the resources with which to make that happen.

We were also pleased to find out that we weren’t the only parents who considered sending our child to a military academy. In a study published by the Journal of School Choice, research showed that a surprising number of parents were electing to send their children to military academies or private schools. In a time where public schools are struggling to provide a well-rounded education due to the demands of No Child Left Behind, military academies have thrived because they don’t have to rely on NCLB funding, and are instead allowed to focus on providing education founded on personal responsibility, community, loyalty, and discipline.

In addition to a more well-rounded education, we believe that a military boarding school was the most appropriate for our son because of the focus on character development and leadership skills. Like many kids at the school my son attended, our son was doing okay in public school and was moderately involved, but there was no real focus on motivation, goal setting or self-discipline. At the military academy, he was able to prove his own self worth without having to worry about family wealth or achievements setting the bar for his success. The creation of self-governance and self-reliance was incredibly important to us and he quickly learned to be accountable and responsible for his actions through a merit/demerit system.

If this sounds like an environment that may be suitable for your child, it’s definitely worth discussing and exploring the issue further. My husband and I did just that several years ago, when our son was struggling to reach his potential in the local school system.

Although none of us were thrilled by the idea of him living away from home at a boarding school, we realized that it was a short-term solution with potential long-term benefits. And we were right; after just a year in a military boarding school our son had acquired the necessary tools necessary to succeed on his own, in any setting, in any institution. He returned to public school and excelled right off the bat. Now, he can tackle his coursework on his own – he really doesn’t need his parents or his school to find motivation for him.

In retrospect though, I wish I had kept him at the boarding school until he graduated. Attending a small military boarding school comes with unique advantages: college planning services at no extra cost, life-long friendships that can become a powerful professional network, and leadership skills that really set a student apart from other college applicants. If you can afford the full 3-4 years, it can really pay off in the long-term.

This post has been contributed by Becky W.

There are often two types of music in my car at any given time: (1) “me” music and (2) “kid” music. As a mom of four little ones, the “me” music is rarely heard (unless I am driving by myself) since the “kid” music is always on!  Can anyone else relate?

Well, if this is a dilemma in your car,  keep reading because I have a CD that solves the problem! I have found “kid” music that I love and choose to listen to even when there are no kids in the car! Scripture Lullabies features beautiful, classical music, with accompanying words that are straight from Scripture.  So, not only is the music soothing and peaceful, but everyone listening to the music is learning Bible verses without even knowing it! That’s a WIN-WIN in our family :)

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Even now, as I type this post, I can hear the music coming from their rooms. As they sleep peacefully, the words to the songs are reminding them of God’s love, God’s grace, and God’s plan. I have children who sleep peacefully through the night, who wake up in good moods, and who know the words to the songs (and therefore Scripture verses) without the effort of rote memorization!

Here’s another testimony from the Scripture Lullabies website about the influence of their music:

“This powerfully peaceful music is helping children sleep soundly, free from nightmares, while also providing some much needed peace for mom and dad.  It’s the perfect baby gift but as you listen, you’ll understand why so many adults are buying their own copy or several to give as gifts to friends and family members.  One out of every 10 “Hidden in My Heart” CDs is donated to Pregnancy Resource centers around the country, so by purchasing this CD, our customers are blessing more than just their own family.”

She {hearts} Savings

Would you like to own a copy of this relaxing and powerful music? Scripture Lullabies is offering our readers 15% off their “Hidden in your Heart” CDs.  Just go to their website and enter SL2012 at checkout for your 15% off.

She {hearts} Freebies

We also get to pick TWO lucky winners! The winners can choose to receive either a physical CD or digital download of their choice: Hidden in your Heart Vol. I or Hidden in your Heart Vol. II. (We own both and they are equally wonderful!)
To Enter: For a chance to win, leave a comment with how you’d use this CD. Would you give it as a gift to an expectant mom? Would you keep it for yourself and play it in the car for your kids (and you)? Would you play it in the living room while your kids are playing?

Additional Entries: For more chances to win, make sure to leave an additional comment for each entry you complete.

• Subscribe to our feed via RSS or EMAIL (be sure to click the verification link).
• Become a Fan of She {Hearts} It.
• Become a fan of Scripture Lullabies on Facebook.
• Tweet about this giveaway.

A winner from the U.S. will be chosen on Friday, May 18 at 7PM EST. Please see our Giveaway Rules for further details. Product Sample Provided