Mood:  a-ok

So, what is this wonderful product that I've been talking about for the past couple of days?

It's called a Toydle Toy Fort.

Have your child(ren) ever draped blankets over the couches and chairs and crawled under them?

Have they ever tried to build a fortress out of limbs or left over wood around your home?

Have they ever build these structures only them have them fall apart.or have to be taken down soon after it was built?

Or, worse yet, has your child ever gotten hurt because of faulty or just plain "not made for fort building" materials?

Well, never fear, Toydle Toy Forts are here!

Toydle Toy Forts is the invention of Robert Brownfield. Robert had brought home a toy for his son Ike and five minutes after he presented the toy to his son, it had met it's fate in a heap on the driveway concrete. Rob had already been making quality products with the company of which he was president. After some thought he realized that he could build better, long lasting, more durable toys than what was on the market today, so he began his own company - Toydle. One of the first products he produced was the Toydle Toy Fort. And better yet, it's completely manufactured in American! Take a look at one of the ingenious forts that was build using one of Toydle's Toy Fort kits.

All you do is throw some blankets or tarps over the top and - voila - you have a sturdy fort that can be played in, taken down, and put together again in whatever creative design your child wants. To see a video of a Toydle Toy Fort being put together, just click here or on any one of the hi-lighted links above to get to the Toydle website. The forts come in two different sizes. The regular Toydle Toy Fort sells for $149 and the Big Toydle Fort sells for $229.99. Each comes with specially cut, sturdy, tubes, hand made connector blocks, clips and a handy dandy carry bag. Better yet, everything is unconditionally guaranteed! The Toydle website says that they will replace anything even if a block was left out in the rain of a tube breaks because a child tried to do a pull-up on it - it's guaranteed!

But wait! After you head to the Toydle website, head over to the TOS Homeschool Crew blog because the TOS Homeschool Crew is giving away THREE of the BIG Toydle Forts. The Crew blog has all of the details, just click here. I'll be checking back to see who wins. It would be really neat if one of my readers is able to put one of these neat forts under the tree for Christmas.

NOTE: The above mentioned contest is open to residents of the United States ONLY. TOS Staff and TOS Crew Members (and their families) are not eligible to enter this contest.

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Yes, this post is about the big announcement that I'm going to make tomorrow. Yes, tomorrow is my fantastic middle child's birthday, but, no, it doesn't have to do with Joshua. It does have to do with something that you can give as a birthday or Christmas gift to your child...AND...I'm going to announce a big giveaway for not just one of these great gifts. Still can't tell you yet. I'm sworn to secrecy. Tune in tomorrow morning to find out!

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Mood:  happy

Summer is always a fun time for us. We love to go to the lake and picnic or cook out at home. One of our favorite stops is at the local farmers market to pick up some fresh vegetables to throw on the grill or cook up in a stir fry.

Unfortunately, there are some summer foods that you just can't grow in your garden or pick up at the farmers market. Of course, in the summer you have to have something cold to drink like

       or

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Mood:  energetic

Well, did you get the equation from last night correct? Yep, it's a Lands' End giveaway!

A little over a week ago I was contacted about a promotion for the great Lands' End Original Mesh Polo Shirts. I would receive one later in the week, try it out for a few days, then blog about what I thought of it.

One of the things that I was to include in my blog was why and where I wear polo shirts. Easy questions. I wear them because of the comfort. Especially in the summer when it is hot out! And, during the summer, I wear them especially during the Day Camps that we run here at Good News Mission.

Here I am wearing an off-brand polo shirt while teaching a flannel graph story to some of the kids last week at Day Camp. This particular shirt is very inferior to the one I received from Lands' End. I show you the picture as proof that I do, indeed, wear them all of the time during the summer.

My new Lands' End shirt arrived last Friday during our biggest day of Day Camp so I decided to give it the ultimate Day Camp test! If you guessed WATER DAY you were right on! I put on my comfortable "Ocean Breeze" colored mesh polo shirt to see if it was up to the challenge of water balloons, shaving cream and slip-n-slide soap. As you can see in the following pictures, it was thoroughly put to the test.

How did it hold up. Well, check this out! This picture was taken today, just before I published this post. After washing it's as good as new. I think this Lands' End New Mesh Polo Shirt is a keeper - don't you?

This really is a soft and comfortable shirt. The mesh design allows for me to be cool when I'm out in the hot sun and, with the tail makes it easy to stay tucked in or gives it a classy look if you are like me and prefer your polo shirts stay untucked. This new shirt by Lands' End really is a winner.

The price is a winner as well! The short sleeved shirts come with or without pockets and are just $29.50 each for sizes S-XXL. You can buy them in a large variety of colors - even stripes. There is even a long sleeved mesh shirt that runs for $34.50. Some styles also come in Tall sizes that you can purchase for an additional $5.00 on top of the regular price. Right now, though, they have a sale going on. If you buy any three mesh shirts you can take off $5.00 for each. That's a savings of $15.00! To find out more about these great shirts, just click here or on any one of the hi-lighted links above.

BUT...here's the best part...just in time for Father's Day, Lands' End is allowing me to give away one of these great short sleeved mesh polo shirts for FREE on my blog! You have until midnight next Tuesday, June 21, to enter. On Wednesday, June 22, I'll be randomly drawing a winner and notifying the lucky person. They will need to give me a size and mailing address ASAP because I have to turn all of that in by next Friday, June 24 (sorry, but you don't get a color preference ). There are multiple ways to enter. Here are the details:

1. Leave a comment saying why you would like to win a Lands’ End polo shirt.  (worth one entry).

2. "Like" the Lands' End Facebook page by clicking here and then leave a comment below saying that you did. (worth one entry).

3. 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).

4. 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).

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

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

7. 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).

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

I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour by Dad Central Consulting on behalf of Lands’ End and received a polo shirt to facilitate my review, one to giveaway, and a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.

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Mood:  a-ok

Yep! Things are adding up for a fantastic Father's Day giveaway! See if you can figure out the following equation. Check back tomorrow to see if you got it right and for more information on this great giveaway.

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