First, the bad news. Pushing Daisies has been canceled. *sniff* *sob* What will The Disney Blog do without me? I do without The Pie Man?!

And now the good news: I hate my printer. How is this good news? Well, while I was tweeting with Jo-Lynne today, I found two sites giving away an Epson Artisan 800 Printer. (Well, she found one. I found the other.) And I am determined to win. I don’t know how I’m going to talk the random number generator to make me win. But I am. (I guess you can enter to win, too. If you must.)

Good News & Bad News is a post from: ohamanda.com
Happy New Year! Here are some of my favorite resources to help you make the most of 2012! One Bite At A Time: 52 Projects for Making Life Simpler, an ebook by Simple Mom!
Create Your Perfect Cleaning Schedule, finally get your house under control!
E-Mealz, online meal-planning with shopping lists! {20% off with code SKINNY when you choose one of their healthy menus}
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*keep reading, this is a giveaway!*

I told you about my new blog, Impress Your Kids. (It’s going swimmingly, thanks for asking. I got 30 whole hits yesterday!) The whole idea is that by using small everyday things you’d normally do, you can impress God’s Word on your kids. With a preschooler you can use crafts and music and of course, BOOKS!

I love finding new books that help me tell Lydia more about God. It just so happens that Random House sent me three books that do just that!

The first two are by Dandi Daley Mackall and illustrated by David Hohn. When Lydia saw these books, she was so excited. We immediately read the “toes book” and loved it! It’s a beautiful story about a little girl who wonders what God did when He created her. When God Created My Toes is a sweet story of God’s love and attention to even our teeny tiny parts! My favorite line?

“When God created my nose did He know I’d sneeze in a wintry breeze? Did we kiss like Eskimos when God created my nose?”

God Loves Me More Than That is about a little boy who wonders how much love God has for him. He basically goes through Romans 8:38-39 to see how big, soft, wide, loud and strong God’s love is.

The pictures are modern and captivating. The story is all in rhyme. And enough humor in it to make Lydia giggle. I love the lesson in God’s love–it’s something we all need to be reminded of!

The third book is God Gave Us Heaven by Lisa T. Bergen. I’ve read a few of her novels and liked her so was excited to read this. Plus, I’d seen the other books in this series (God Gave Us You, God Gave Us Two) and was hoping to find a new series to enjoy with Lydia.

This is basically the story of a little polar bear cub who asks questions about Heaven. Her papa bear answers each of her questions and explains beautifully how we get to Heaven. The illustrations are darling, the questions are ones I’m sure every kid (and some adults!) have asked.

But I just didn’t love it. It was too much. Like a textbook for a toddler. Maybe for an older child, you could use this as a springboard for a discussion about heaven. But for a 2 year old, the long paragraphs describing why we aren’t angels in heaven coming from a papa polar bear? Well, it was just ok for me. (Ha! I’m channeling Randy Jackson!)

However, it’s always great to see kids’ books with good theology and teaching. So, if you want to talk to your kid about Heaven and need a good vehicle, this could help you. I just suggest you know something about Heaven first, instead of using this as your Bible. Know what I mean?

***

Do these books sound like something you and your kids would like? Well, I’m going to give all three of them away to one happy winner! Just leave me a comment—about your favorite picture book, why you’re blogging instead of something else right now, or just “Me want books!” I’ll pick a winner this weekend!

(US & Canada only, folks!)

CONGRATS TO HEATHER @NOT A DIY LIFE! 

Impress Your Kids With BOOKS! is a post from: ohamanda.com
Happy New Year! Here are some of my favorite resources to help you make the most of 2012! One Bite At A Time: 52 Projects for Making Life Simpler, an ebook by Simple Mom!
Create Your Perfect Cleaning Schedule, finally get your house under control!
E-Mealz, online meal-planning with shopping lists! {20% off with code SKINNY when you choose one of their healthy menus}
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Sounds like a sale at the mall, huh?

Anyway, I’m on my way to a meeting at church. Lydia is going to wear her new Eve shirt. She’s very excited. It doesn’t take much. (Wonder who she gets that from?)

Then we’re going to a Cowboy birthday party. I bought Lydia a red cowboy hat to wear. Excuse me. Did I just say cowBOY? I meant, cowGIRL! And don’t you let Lydia hear you say it wrong either!

So, it’s destined to be a wonderful clothing day for everyone involved.

But let’s get back to the original intent of this post. (There was one?) Oh yeah, winners! I’ve got 2 winners for my Yancy CD bloggy giveaway…

Christine @Home Team Wins

and

Dawn M. (who doesn’t have a blog *gasp* but has a nephew, so that’s something!)

I’ll be emailing you today but if you see this first email me which CD you’d rather have & your snail mail, ok?

Happy weekend!

Super Saturday Stuff is a post from: ohamanda.com
Happy New Year! Here are some of my favorite resources to help you make the most of 2012! One Bite At A Time: 52 Projects for Making Life Simpler, an ebook by Simple Mom!
Create Your Perfect Cleaning Schedule, finally get your house under control!
E-Mealz, online meal-planning with shopping lists! {20% off with code SKINNY when you choose one of their healthy menus}
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When I lived in Orlando, I saw a billboard for Radio Disney. It said, “Music Kids Love. Not Kids’ Music.” And that said it all. Up until recently, kids’ music has been…lame. It’s usually kinda preschool-y or low-budget, or just weird remakes of kinda popular songs. Or all of the above. Finally Disney has introduced *whisper* Hannah Montana, Jonas Brothers and the like that have let kids have some idols that are you know, kids!

Most kids end up listening to whatever their parents or older siblings like. And I’m all for kids listening to good music but at the same time, I’d prefer my kids to be kids as long as possible. I want Lydia to like singing “Wheels on the Bus” as long as she wants. (I, on the other hand cringe every time she suggests we sing! Round and round, indeed!)

So, even though I’m a couple of days late for the big bloggy giveaway (because of my super fun bloggy trip to Cincinnati and Pampers!), I’m giving away 2 kids’ cds by one of my very favorite people in the whole wide world, Yancy. I love Yancy so much I could devote a whole post to her (I mean, this kinda is…). She’s a good friend of mine, a self-motivated entrepreneur, an artist extraordinaire, a sincere Godly woman and totally cute.

But in lieu of an Ode to Yancy, I’m just going to give away some of her stuff. How’s that? I know, it’s what you’ve really been wanting anyway, the FREE STUFF…

Up for grabs is one of 2 cds:

Rock-n-Happy Heart is a fabu elementary aged cd with fun worship-y type songs that are rockin’, cool and still kid-friendly.

OR

Little Praise Party: My Best Friend is a preschool album with a bookoo of songs that range from modern stuff to some old skool classics (Father Abraham, anyone?) But as cool as Dan Zanes. And waaaay cuter. (This is my daughter’s favorite album! She loves to dance to it.)

To listen to either cd (or Yancy’s grown up albums) click here. And here to poke around her site to see what she’s about!

Just leave me a comment. You can tell me your kids’ favorite music, tell me about what you had for lunch or just say “I WANT FREE STUFF”. It doesn’t matter. I’ll close the comments at some point this weekend and then pick 2 winners–you can pick the preschool or elementary school album. And I promise you’ll love either one!

*comments closed* 

Congrats Dawn & Christine! 

Music Kids Actually Like! is a post from: ohamanda.com
Happy New Year! Here are some of my favorite resources to help you make the most of 2012! One Bite At A Time: 52 Projects for Making Life Simpler, an ebook by Simple Mom!
Create Your Perfect Cleaning Schedule, finally get your house under control!
E-Mealz, online meal-planning with shopping lists! {20% off with code SKINNY when you choose one of their healthy menus}
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I’m in a different mood for Wordless Wednesday today. I needed a little fun this morning. I was going to show you a picture of my great-great-uncle in a potato field.

A potato field. Even I’m not interested in that.

But, when I saw this, it made me feel happy!

Amanda 5, Jason 2 1/2. March 1983.

I don’t know what is up with my prairie dress or Jason’s collar. But can I just say one thing?

WE ARE SO CUTE!

I totally remember this because Jason left when we thought the pictures were done and I got surprised with that solo picture at the bottom!

So.

I was thinking. We’ve all got these photo booth pictures stuck somewhere. For some reason it’s ridiculously fun to sit in a booth and get a bad picture of yourself taken! So, why don’t you share yours? Go digging around in your High School stuff, look under your bed and scan your PHOTO BOOTH picture! Then post it on your blog. Tell us a little about the picture if you want. Then, sign the Mr. Linky below with a link to that post. (If you don’t follow the rules, I may have to delete you! Mwaa-haaa-haaa!)

I’ll leave it up for a couple of days and then I’ll pick a winner! Yes, a winner! To win like an actual prize!! (What’s the prize you ask? Well, I’ll get back to you. I told you I needed fun today. I just made this up, so let me think a little and I’ll get back to you. I promise it will be significantly better than a loaf of bread but not quite as nice as a Wii.) OK, Tamara from Pondered in My Heart just left me the idea for the prize! A handmade Photo Booth Picture Album from Freckled Nest’s etsy shop! How adorable is that?! And at the rate you guys are commenting with “I’ve never been in a photo booth before”, it looks like I’ll be the winner! COOL!

Start your memories…

(more ww click here and here)

“Wordless” Photo Booth Tag *updated with PRIZE* is a post from: ohamanda.com
Happy New Year! Here are some of my favorite resources to help you make the most of 2012! One Bite At A Time: 52 Projects for Making Life Simpler, an ebook by Simple Mom!
Create Your Perfect Cleaning Schedule, finally get your house under control!
E-Mealz, online meal-planning with shopping lists! {20% off with code SKINNY when you choose one of their healthy menus}
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Multnomah Books asked me to review a book by Amy Wallace called Healing Promies. Well, I couldn’t pass it up because you know how I feel about healing and God’s promises!

I have to confess I didn’t finish reading it yet and I’m still undecided as to where the healing theology is going. It will be the ending that will decide it!

However, I can say, that this book is a thriller! It’s about Clint, an FBI agent who works not JUST for the FBI but for the special Crimes Against Children Unit. His wife, Sara is an oncologist. The problem starts when they discover Clint has cancer.

You can see what’s going to happen right? The strong FBI agent is taken down a notch by his cancer. His wife is helpless to…uh, help him. They are constantly struggling with their faith in God. And wondering about His healing promises.

All while Clint and his team are tracking a serial kidnapper/murderer. *shiver*

Are you intrigued yet? Well, I’m giving away TWO copies. (I mean, Multnomah is giving them away through my lowly little blog…) Just leave me any old comment on this post. And I’ll pick a winner in a day or two.

The topic of healing has been on the forefront of my mind lately–with Sawyer, Nate and even the sermons at church for the last few weeks. So, I’ve got a big healing/God/promises post coming up. *rubbing hands together eagerly*

Healing Promises: A Giveaway! is a post from: ohamanda.com
Happy New Year! Here are some of my favorite resources to help you make the most of 2012! One Bite At A Time: 52 Projects for Making Life Simpler, an ebook by Simple Mom!
Create Your Perfect Cleaning Schedule, finally get your house under control!
E-Mealz, online meal-planning with shopping lists! {20% off with code SKINNY when you choose one of their healthy menus}
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