TodaysMama and Provo Craft are giving away a sleighful of gifts this holiday season and to enter, I’m sharing this meme with you. Did I mention this giveaway features $3,800 in prizes? For those of you that know me, you know I'm not exaggerating, because if I were, I'd exaggerate using an odd number. LOL!

Click here to check out the ginormous amount of goods.

To enter to win them, all you need to do is the following three things:

1. Answer the questions in this meme on your blog.


2. Make sure to post links back to TodaysMama.com and Provo Craft (using this link: http://bit.ly/4ikY3c ).


3. Tag your friends!

Create a Wishlist!

1. What 5 items are top on your holiday wish list?

• A piano


• A trip to India


• Maid service (even one a month would be heavenly!)


• A trip to New York City (I would love to get this gift early, so I can go this December!)


• A new printer like my old one (where the sheets feed into the copier)

2. What is your favorite handmade gift you have received?

Do my grandma's banana cookies count? Honestly... there is no better handmade gift than that!

3. What handmade gift have you always wanted to tackle?

I'd love to knit a hat as long as someone else could do the knitting for me!

4. What was the best Christmas gift you received as a child?

Holly Hobby Easy Bake Oven... hands down the best gift evah!



5. What items are top on your kids wish list this year?

• My 6YO wants an electric guitar.


• My 8YO wants us to get a piano. He's willing to forego toys for it!

6. What is your favorite holiday food?

Where to begin?

• Reindeer cookies


• My MIL's sugar cookies


• Saurkraut


• My mom's prime rib roast


• Caramel Apple Spice from Starbuck's


• Hot chocolate


• Veggie trays (especially if I got to chop the veggies)


• Olives (especially when eaten off my finger tips... tell me you did that as a kid too!)

7. What will you be hand-crafting for the holidays?
Thankfully, nada (unless making reindeer cookies as neighbor gifts counts)!

8. What is your favorite holiday movie?
All of them! I love holiday movies!!! If I had to choose just one, I would probably say How The Grinch Stole Christmas, especially the part when his heart pops out of his chest!

9. Favorite holiday song?
I can't choose just one:

• Oh Come All Ye Faithful


• We Three Kings/Star of Wonder by BNL & Sarah McLaughlin


• Bring the Torch, Jeanette Isabella


• That one by the Osmond's that @troypattee dies for (can't remember the name... not Puppy Love though!)

10. Favorite holiday pastime?
Giving!

Tag! You're It!

Now, it's tag time! I'd love to see answers to these questions from all of you, but since the task is to tag some of you and since tagging all of you would mean the rest of you would have no one to tag, here we go!

• Leah from Mamavation
• Stephanie from The Daily Blarg
• Joanie from Keeping Up With Mom
• Sari from Perpetual Chaos
• Lauren from Super Mom Central
• Tonya from This and That

Giveaway and Coupon Details

One lucky winner will watch their child(ren)'s imagination ignite with Crayola's Color Wonder gift pack ($200 retail value). (See giveaway entry requirements below.)

Everyone’s a winner in this week's giveaway! Enjoy a discount toward Crayola products by downloading a Crayola coupon here (good through August 31).

Entry Requirements

To enter for a chance to win, you are required to do four things (make sure you leave a separate comment for each of your entries).

Note: Entries that do not follow all of these requirements will not be considered.

1. Brighten someone's day during this back-to-school season by performing one of the random acts of kindness listed here and commenting here to tell us what you did.


2. Become a fan of the Crayola Facebook Page.


3. Follow @crayola on Twitter.


4. Post these messages on Facebook and/or on Twitter and leave comments here, linking to your messages:

Join #gno Tues 9-11 ET 4 a back-to-school wrap up w/ @crayola. RSVP: http://bit.ly/oyOz9 PLS RT

GIVEAWAY! Enter 2 win shoes $200 in @crayola products. RSVP: http://bit.ly/2OcSQi PLS RT

Extra Entries
You can earn up to two extra entries for this week's giveaway. Leave an additional comment for each.

• Share one of your favorite back-to-school memories on the Mom It Forward Facebook Page.


• Join the Mom It Forward Google Friend Connect (in the right-hand sidebar).

The Fine Print
No purchase necessary to enter. Winners will be selected randomly through http://random.org. Crayola and Mom It Forward employees are ineligible to participate. All entries received after Sunday, August 23 at midnight PDT will not be considered. Entries that do not follow all of the entry requirements will not be considered.

This morning, I posed the following question both on Twitter and on Facebook:






When I came home from church a few hours later, here were all of the responses awaiting me. Who knew something as small and seemingly insignificant as a hair elastic could elicit such emotion and response. Enjoy!


If you'd like to add a response to the mix, either comment here, follow me on at @jylmomIF Twitter, or friend me on Facebook!!!

Green is definitely not my favorite color, but this week I'm seeing a lot of it and unfortunately, it isn't green as in money, but rather green as in envy. I know, I know! A cardinal sin. Shhhh! I won't tell if you don't ;)!

Troy is road tripping it across America—you know, checking out the home of the free, land of the brave as he helps move his brother and his family back to Utah. And I'm green with envy (for the road tripping part, not the moving part!). If I felt up to it, I'd Photoshop a Wicked picture of myself just to prove how green I am, but instead, let me show you why! Tell me if you could relate.

Day 1: Troy arrives in Pennsylvania.

In his witty sense of humor, Troy e-mails me: "This is a photo of Festes the mule. He and I became acquainted shortly after my arrival in Amish Country, Pennsylvania. Festes lives a simple life. Some might feel bad for him pulling a buggy all day, but he's actually the lucky one...he spends his days out front, leading the charge, first in line with nothing before him but the open road. No, don't feel bad for Festes. The one to feel bad for is the buggy driver. Because the view he sees all day is a horse's ass."

Same Day: While Troy is feeling bad for the buggy driver, Jyl is in hell at her new home in Utah. Check out this beautiful chaos.


Day 2: Troy calls Jyl from Niagra Falls? Jyl's response: "You went where without me??????? I thought you were helping your brother move. I didn't realize you were on a vacay."

Troy's e-mail accompanying this picture: "It took a lot longer than we has planned, but we finally made it to Niagra Falls. Even at night the place was crowded and we has to park several blocks away. The kids were tired but I I convinced them that they had to hurry because the water got turned off at 10:00."

Day 3: Troy arrives in Ohio. Jyl is excited to make dinner for the kids. She bought all the ingredients and took one look at her kitchen (see below), realized she had no idea where the pots and pans were, and took the kids to, where else? Wendy's! Gotta love 'em for having square hamburgers and Biggie Fries (even if they changed the name, which was seriously a huge mistake IMHO)!


Day 3: Jyl discovers you can take X-ray pictures with your iPhone and actually have them turn out good. How does she know this? Because the kids were cooped up inside from the torrential desert rain, had a pillow fight, and Chase used his arm to break his fall, breaking his radias bone in the process.

As Chase put it, "It snapped in half, just like a chocolate candy bar that you are going to share with a friend." Way to see the sweeter side of life, buddy! Here he is, hair uncombed, but faking a smile right before the Tylenol with Codeine went down. That there's the real sweet side of life!


And so I don't leave out my cute little incredible hulk who started this whole breaking bit. Who says knock off Crocs suck? Oh! Wait! I do. George Smith, Jr.: Please, oh! please!, hook us up. Who makes these things??? I caught Connor picking IH's nose while in the doc's office. SERIOUSLY???


How are your road trips going this summer?

Blogging is a great form of therapy. While I don't necessarily want to delve into why I need it today, let's suffice it to say I've moved. There. I'll leave it at that.

But, something great has happened in spite of the move... or rather because of it. I know this picture shouldn't really bring a smile to anyone's face... and definitely not a shout for joy... especially from the person who is in the picture. But, I thought I had lost this. And finding it was a welcome surprise! Why?

This picture was taken after I had 42 staples removed from my head in 1993. I suffered an epidural hematoma and a fractured skull. Somehow, looking at this picture reminds me that life really is one big roller coaster ride with lots of ups and downs and that through it all, the lessons I've learned have all been worth it. This picture keeps it all in perspective for me. There's a lot to learn... even in the toughest of times. It's all about remembering that in the midst of the rough patches, right? Like today!

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