Mood:  a-ok

"Kanga" the Okapi

"Chloe" the Asian Elephant Calf

"Loui" the Swabien-Hall Piglet

"Candy" the Przewalski's Horse

"Lightning" the Dartmoor Pony

"Cody" the Gnu

"Zack" the Gnu Calf

and

"Donkey" the Donkey

These fabulous animals were sent to the Tinkel household and affectionately named by the Tinkel children. These well trained mammals have been loved by the children of the household along with their friends since they arrived in the mailbox close to six weeks ago. Although these quality plastic, hand painted figures are not real, don't tell the kids! To them, they are very real and have been used in imaginative play from creating this "Tinkel Family Circus" to going on adventurous safaris, running a western ranch or working the family farm.

You, too, can begin an imaginative animal adventure by starting your own collection of Schleich figures. If a circus, safari, ranch or farm aren't for you then you can choose from historical eras such as "Prehistoric Animals", "The World of Knights", and "The World of the American Indians". Or, perhaps you would like to delve into fantasy worlds such as the one created by Schleich called "Bayala" or buy Schleich replica's of Smurf cartoon figures. And, they don't just have animals, but also have authentic replicas of trees, forts, wagons, castles and more to go along with your figurines. In fact, Schleich has 100's of hand painted items of all prices that they produce. But, before you write off these quality products as being too expensive for you budget, think again. The Przewalski's Horse that we were sent can be bought for $2.99 new on Amazon. To see all of the items that this 75 year old company makes and to find a retailer near you please click here or on any one of the hi-lighted links above. And, to find what adventures the other crew members had with their Schleich figures please click here.

And for our next act...

As a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew I was sent eight Schleich figurines free of charge in order to try out and review on my blog.

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Mood:  happy

If you walked into our home, you would notice right away all of the book shelves that line our hallway, bedrooms, and my office (in the mission). Yes, we are bookaholics. We love books. My parents were avid readers, Sarah's parents were avid readers, and we are trying to pass on their and our love of books to our children. We especially love what has been called "living books" which I define as good, inspirational books that promote Christian values. That's why I was so excited to see my name on the TOS Homeschool Crew list for Salem Ridge Press, a company who publishes and reprints books that fit that definition.

We were sent three books that represented the types of good literature that they put out. Two were downloadable ebooks - "Down the Snow Stairs" and "Young Robin Hood", and one was a hardcopy book - "Soldier Fritz" and we were not disappointed at all. We were sent these books as a representation of what kind of material Salem Ridge Press publishes, so I will refrain from doing a book review on each particular book, but I can tell you that these books are everything and more than what I hoped for.

Salem Ridge Press is a company that was started by a homeschool graduate with the purpose of "bringing back quality children’s books of the 1800’s and early 1900’s for a new generation of readers" (from their website). Their books promote wholesome values that many, dare I say most, children's books published these day's don't promote. And, in case you think that books such as this must be dry and boring, think again! There are adventure novels, historical novels and allegories. There are books for younger readers and older readers. They have books for almost everything with more books being published regularly. I really like what I see with this growing company.

Let me reassure you that I am not just saying this to be nice in my review. My family has loved these books. Joshua, who is so active that he normally can't sit still for two minutes, actually sat enthralled while I read aloud "Young Robin Hood". I assigned John Allen "Soldier Fritz" to read, but he has yet to finish it because I began to read it and was engrossed from the first chapter! They are that good.

I really encourage you to check out Salem Ridge Press by clicking here or on any one of the hi-lighted links above. The three books that we received had a price range from $10.95 for softcover to $20.95 for hardcover. "Down the Snow Stairs" was priced at $24.95 but was clothbound with a dust jacket. As of now, they do not offer their books as downloadable ebooks but the TOS Store does. I think that I have gotten across our feelings for these great books, but just in case you missed it...WE LOVED THEM! These books would be wonderful additions to any home library. Now, to read what other TOS Crew Members thought about this company please click here. Happy Home Educating!

As a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew I was sent for free two downloadable ebooks and one softcover book from Salem Ridge Press for the purpose of reading, looking over and reviewing the quality of their products on my blog.

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Mood:  a-ok

We should always be in prayer for the government officials - local, state and national, but in light of the fact that a major mid-term election is just around the corner I feel we should especially be in prayer for our great nation. Although I have delved into politics occasionally, the purpose of this blog has never been political. However, my blog has always been pro-family and especially pro Christian family. I feel that most of my readers are of the same persuasion. That is why I want to remind all of my readers to be vigilant in prayer for the upcoming elections. I, myself, am praying for the candidates that are pro-God, pro-family and pro-constitution. I am not going to try to get you to vote for one candidate or another but I do think that prayer is the key to keeping our country great. I don't know what's going to happen one, five or ten years down the road, but God does. Let's pray that God will raise up strong Christian rulers that, like our founding fathers, will continue to strengthen our land.

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Mood:  incredulous

Then, to my excitement, they invited me to do a promotion with them. I could either choose a product and review it or I could do a giveaway and give a $55 CSN gift certificate to one of my readers! It was tough, but I decided to bless one of you with the gift. You can spend this one-time-use certificate at any one of CSN's 200+ stores. Just click here or on any of the hi-lighted links above to check them out.

Okay, now for the nitty-gritty. Because CSN can only ship to the USA or Canada, this giveaway is only open to folks living in one of those countries (I'm sorry my international friends - I'll have a giveaway soon that you can join). Since this is a rather big giveaway, I'm not going to draw the winner until Friday, October 1. That gives everyone almost two weeks to enter and to tell all of your friends about it. There are a ton of ways that you can enter. Pick one or pick them all. Here they are: 

1. Check out the CSN website and tell me what you think you would like to do with the gift certificate if you were to win - don't worry, you won't be obligated to get that particular item (worth one entry).

2. Subscribe to my blog by clicking on the subscribe button at the end of this post and then leave a comment saying that you did (worth one entry).

3. Subscribe to my blog by clicking on the Networked blog button or the Google friend requests in the left column and then leave a comment saying that you did (worth two total entries - one entry for each).

4. Become a fan on my Families Again Facebook page by clicking here and then leave a comment saying that you did (worth one entry).

5. Follow me in Twitter by clicking here and then leave a comment saying that you did (worth one entry).

6. Twitter about this give-away and leave a comment with a link to the post(s) (worth one entry per day. Must make a separate comment each day).

7. Blog about this give-away and leave three comments with a link to the post (worth 3 entries).

8. Like CSN stores on Facebook by clicking here and then leave two comments saying that you did (worth 2 entries).

9. Follow CSN stores on Twitter by clicking here and then leave two comments saying that you did (worth 2 entries).

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Mood:  celebratory

Yep! Tomorrow's the big announcement of my gigantic giveaway! I can't tell you exactly what it is, but it involves a $55 gift certificate that can be spent at over 200 online stores! So, don't forget to come back tomorrow for all of the details. Yippee!!!

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