Works for me Wednesday complete with a *GIVEAWAY!*

I found a fun blog by a lady who calls herself the "Green Bag Lady". She makes fabric shopping bags, has given away over five thousand of them and even posts the pattern for free so you can make your own.

And I've made bags! And more bags! In fact, my handmade bag count for yesterday reached about a dozen. I made bags like there's no tomorrow. I have hoards of fabric lying around, so I just started sewing them up into bags. And you know what? I'm going to give one away. Just leave a comment promising that you'll use whatever style and pattern I made and I'll send you one free of charge! :)

Free stuff. Works for me! Go to We Are That Family for more things that could work for you!

**Edited to note that I'll pick a winner on Saturday to give more people a chance to win!

**Edited a second time to add a link to the Green Bag Lady's blog. Sorry, I guess I'm out of practice in blogging! Here she is: www.greenbaglady.blogspot.com

The Experiment

This summer Jim and I decided to conduct a little experiment. We, along with Evan, are reading through the Harry Potter series. School let out on May 20. Evan would be done except that we placed a rule on him that he could not be more than one book ahead of us.

We know the controversy about the books in the Christian circles where we run. I myself had an editorial published in a parenting magazine spouting off about the dangers of witches and wizards becoming commonplace and filling young minds with the idea that magic can solve your problems. And yet I myself wanted to read the books! So, we decided to read them together as a family. And we're discussing what we find and comparing it to Scripture. (And it's also a good lesson in self-control because we're learning things about the characters that we cannot share with others who aren't as far along as we are!)

So here we sit on July second. Jim is somewhere back in book five (something about not being able to sit around and read all day because he's working, excuses, excuses). Evan and I are each a couple hundred pages from finished with seven. And I still don't really know what to think. The books aren't as much about witchcraft (which I hereby acknowledge is a real thing very much alive in the world today) as they are about friendship and fighting for the greater good. It does seem that to get to the greater good requires much rule bending and breaking and sneaking around. The setting seems to be just that, the setting for a good story.

What do you think? Have you read the series? Would you let your children read them? Why or why not? (Have full license to discuss in the comments, but please let's play nicely and understand that different people may make different choices.)

Driving lessons

This week is Vacation Bible School week at our church. We have had a fantastic time and I think the kids like it, too! :)

Our neighbors around the corner have been bringing their two boys, D and N to VBS with us. Last night due to circumstances beyond their control they needed me to transport their kids. In trade, they kept Avery for me (and also because I didn't have enough seats for my three boys, two neighbor boys and an Avery). Their boys are sweet and very cooperative. And they also give driving lessons.

Part of the fun of VBS is the music (and overloading on sweets just an hour or two before bedtime, but I digress). Each child takes home a CD of the music to listen to all week. I keep mine in the car and we get to listen to it to and from church. As my kids jam out they assign each other different instruments they hear and "be" those instruments. A common phrase you might hear is, "I'm the guitar, you be the piano".

Last night they were jamming out in our usual manner when I told them that they needed an audience and that I'd be the audience. They told me that I should clap and cheer once the songs were over. So I did. And a very nervous little voice came from behind me, "maybe you should just cheer and not clap while you're driving".

Do you know how hard it is to laugh your head off without letting a little guy know you're laughing???

The Update List

So summer has started, well, summer started two weeks ago so I guess I'm a little behind. I have so many things I'd love to write a complete post about, but am lacking in time to do so, so here's my Cliff's Notes version. Enjoy.

Jim finished up his fourteenth year of teaching. We sound old, don't we?

The boys have befriended some little boys across the street. D is finishing up first grade and N is entering kindergarten next year. They're really sweet little boys and I'm looking forward to a summer of sharing our yard with them! And as a bonus, our street is pretty much local traffic only I'm able to let the older boys travel back and forth pretty much by themselves.

The boys also got to go to the dentist yesterday. Good reports all around. The only concern is that Aidan and Toby need to stop the finger/thumb sucking to avoid orthodontia in the future. Yup, made a sticker chart for that. Toby's totally on board because the reward is a donut! :)

Avery's doing well in her big girl bed. In fact, I made black out shades out of a navy blue twin flat sheet. Say it with me now, "red neck curtain". I think she's too scared of the dark to venture out of bed because in the morning and after nap she cries out, "I want my mamma" instead of getting out of bed. A little trauma never hurt when trying to train a kid to stay in bed, right?

I'm swimming along here. I'm mostly trying to implement this year's chore chart system and schedule. As usual, I'm my own worst enemy! As I type Aidan is making his own breakfast and offered to make me some. Avery cleared her own place at the table this morning without prompting and even put her spoon in the dishwasher. Evan is plowing through books at breakneck speed. Toby is, well, Toby. He cracks us up. We're starting to work on letter and number recognition with him.

Enough bragging on my family? We're overall doing well!

Please remember my friend's eight-year-old son in your prayers. He's hospitalized right now and that's about as far as I'd like to go on that without his Mom's permission.

Out of the Mouths of Babes!

This morning Toby learned that we were going to run errands and thus he needed to go get dressed. In typical Toby fashion he asked, "where in the world are we going this morning?" as he danced and pranced around the living room in his birthday suit. I informed him that we had to go to Target because we need to buy gifts for open house season. Dead stop. Tone as serious as Toby can get it. "You mean we're selling our house again???"

Do I have to explain or do you get it?

Nice People Send Me Stuff

In the past few months I've been on the receiving end of some pretty fantastic emails. Did you know I have connections to Nigerian royalty or that my name has been randomly drawn from the European lottery system? With a few simple clicks of the mouse I have had millions of euros deposited in my American bank account.

Sound too good to be true? Well, then, it probably is. But, what isn't too good to be true is the handful of REAL lotteries I've won! I've entered my name in several bloggy giveaways in the past month. I've won a "Myself Belt" which Avery will grow into hopefully next fall. I've won a "Hip Hop Baby" CD/DVD gift collection. While hip hop isn't my favorite the kids have been enjoying it! And my latest treasure arrived in the mail just today. Sophie who has spent countless hours coordinating the "Praise Baby" blog sent me a nice little thank you gift of a Casting Crowns CD and another CD by Krystal Meyers. All that just for writing a simple little post!

I'm looking forward to some new tunes!

And a special thank you to all the blogs who host fantastic giveaways! It's been fun!

Pieceless Puzzle

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Please allow 4 weeks for delivery

Too funny to pass up

I'll give credit to my brother in law, Jordan for this one.

It was once said that a black man would be president when pigs flew. Well behold 100 days into his presidency...... SWINE FLU!