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?!!

***Impress Your Kids has some new digs at ohAmanda.com! Come visit us there for all the Impress Your Kids archives and all our new posts–including our Easter newsblast with fabulous tips for celebrating a meaningful Easter with your kids!***

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.

***Impress Your Kids has some new digs at ohAmanda.com! Come visit us there for all the Impress Your Kids archives and all our new posts–including our Easter newsblast with fabulous tips for celebrating a meaningful Easter with your kids!***

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!

***Impress Your Kids has some new digs at ohAmanda.com! Come visit us there for all the Impress Your Kids archives and all our new posts–including our Easter newsblast with fabulous tips for celebrating a meaningful Easter with your kids!***