Today I was putting away a huge pile of christmas-birthday-why-haven’t-i-put-this-away-yet stuff in my craft closet. At the top of my pile was a leftover prize from the Gingerbread Party. Lydia already had one, I didn’t want to throw it away, but I didn’t want to add another 10 cent toy to our already overflowing playroom. But what was I going to do with one little prize?

Then I remembered I had stored a few other leftover birthday-goody-bag prizes in a box of balloons and streamers. So, I grabbed an extra plastic container and created a PRIZE BOX!

Now I have some tattoos, a tiny deck of cards, some slinkies, kaleidoscopes and more to use when I need them! I can give them as rewards, or present it as a fun gift when a friend comes to play or just throw in my purse when I need to surprise crying Asa at a restaurant!

Is that a good idea or what?!!

Just a quick post… we’re caught in the middle of the “Mid-Atlantic Blizzard of 2009″ – or whatever they are calling it this year!  According to our plastic ruler measuring method, we have had 10 inches of snow, and it’s still snowing!  Elias told me he prayed for snow, but on Christmas day… “so could we have Christmas today?”  I told him he’d just have to pray for more snow!

That’s Josh, Elias, and Donovan walking down the road – and that’s our little house in the background.  We might be snowed in for a while… Richmond, VA isn’t as south as Atlanta (where I grew up and where Amanda is now), but it’s still the South, and people still don’t know how to act in snow.

I’m sorry the blog went silent for a couple of days! I had two crazy things happen to me this week–one really good and one not so good.

On Friday, my dad (remember, he’s going through Hepatitis C treatments?) was in a pretty bad car accident. My mom called me and said, “Amanda, Daddy is laying on the side of the road! He’s about to be transported to the hospital!” So, I threw the kids in the car and beat the ambulance to the hospital! The nurses told me to wait outside and when we saw him unloaded off the ambulance we could follow him to his room.

This sounded like a great idea until I realized Lydia would see a car-wrecked-Papa unrolled out of an ambulance. She got so freaked out with every new ambulance, I made her turn around every time one pulled up! He finally arrived and did not look bad at all–just wearing a huge neck brace. (She still wouldn’t look at him and I ended up having my sister-in-law come to pick Lydia and Asa up.)

The problem was not just broken bones or whiplash. Due to the hepatitis C medication, his blood platelets have been dangerously low. The doctor had already told him that if he even hit his head in the bed while sleeping, we needed to be concerned about internal bleeding. So, with a wreck this big, internal bleeding was making us very anxious. Daddy had x-rays and two CT scans. And after being in the ER for five or six hours we got the good news: NO INTERNAL BLEEDING!

It was a scary day full of prayers but now Daddy is at home resting and trying to recover from being VERY VERY sore. And now that he isn’t wearing his neck brace, Lydia is excited to see him!

But since he is out of commission, I took Daddy’s place at a Puppetry Ministry Festival at their church. I served chili to 30 people and watched a few puppet shows with Lydia!

Now, the other good news of the week? I am a Disney Mom! What does that mean? Well, I applied to be a part of Disney’s Mom Panel. There were about 20,000 applications, so I am honored to be one of about 20 chosen! I will be answering vacation questions on Disney World’s website. AND I will be going to DISNEY WORLD for training (without my family!) in December! This is a once in a lifetime experience and I am thrilled! My twitter stream, inbox and facebook has been inundated with Disney stuff and I’m pretty sure I’ll have Disney on the brain for the next several weeks!

Thankfully, today has been a normal Sunday. We went to church (where Lydia learned that God made PEOPLE on the 6th day!), ate lunch with friends and are now watching football. (Well, I’m not watching but my husband is trying to convert Lydia to becoming a football fan).

We’ll be back to regular posting tomorrow! We’re gearing up for Thanksgiving, Christmas and a great advent celebration (yes, all at once)! Go ahead and subscribe to our blog  in your feed reader OR as an email so you don’t miss a post!

ehem… I know we are focusing on Thanksgiving right now, but Amanda’s been talking about Christmas already on oh amanda, and I wanted to give you a sneak peak of what has been occupying my naptime craft-times these days….

Just a little peak… And I even have our Christmas picture picked out for our Christmas card.  I am so already in the Christmas spirit!

More tomorrow when vimeo lets me load a video…

Lydia: “Mommy, I like Mickey Mouse better than Jesus.”

Me: “Lydia, Mickey is pretend. Jesus is real.”

Lydia: “Oh, well. What I meant to say is I like Mickey AND Jesus.”

I finally caught up with Amanda and read the Mrs. Rosey Posey books – and I’m so glad I got the chance to read them!  The books are full of wonderful Biblical truths – all simply explained – and lovely to read.  I’m a Robin Jones Gunn groupie now, too!  If you didn’t win copies of the books in our giveaway, please go and find copies someplace.  Fabulous!

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I love making food from scratch for my family – and I love it even more when it turns out to be delicious and easy!  A friend shared this recipe with me for granola bars… super easy and absolutely fabulous! Great for substitutions – just be sure the volume of dry ingredients remains the same with anything that is subbed in.  Also a great recipe to let the kids help with!

Granola Bars

• 1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
• 2 1/2 cups oats
• 1 cup coconut flakes (unsweetened)
• 1/2 cup dried apricots
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
• 1/2 cup milled flax seeds

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Warm condensed milk in microwave (optional – I never do this). Mix all dry ingredients together; add condensed milk and fold together with spatula. Spread mixture into a greased 13″x9″ pan. Press lightly with hand or spatula. Bake 1 hour – remove and let cool 3 minutes. Cut into bars. When completely cooled, wrap bars for goodness on the go!

Other awesome combos = chocolate chips, dried cranberries, and cashews; butterscotch chips and sunflower seeds.

ENJOY!

Just a quick heads up on a sale… If you have a Joann Fabric and Craft store near you, their Busy Kids’ Kids Camp kits and craft supplies are 50% off!  Tons of foam craft kits, foam stickers, glitter and glitter glue… run by there if you need to restock your craft box or add new activities to your Boredom Buster Jar!  I didn’t see the Kids Camp kits on sale on their website, but look!  Their Crayola Craft Supplies are 25% off!