Season Premiere of The American Bible Challenge & GIVEAWAY!! (6/4)

*Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Game Show Network & The American Bible Challenge.

5 Things you didn’t know about The American Bible Challenge:

1. All the money won in every single episode is donated to charities
2. All of the questions come from the old and new testament
3. Your bible knowledge will be tested in physical challenges as well
4. The American Bible Challenge is the highest rated TV program in Game Show Network history
 5. It is nominated for two daytime emmy awards: Outstanding Game Show, and Outstanding Game Show Host Jeff Foxworthy

THE AMERICAN BIBLE CHALLENGE is a spirited game show that celebrates the Bible and its place in American culture. Bible enthusiasts from all across the country compete in a variety of challenges that put their knowledge of the Good Book to the test. The show’s prizing further reflects the celebration of faith, as teams earn money for the charity of their choice.

The American Bible Challenge returns for a two hour block May 22nd at 8/7c on Game Show Network. Don’t for get to tune in June 5th for the first episode of It Takes a Church premiering right after The American Bible Challenge.

Keep up with The American Bible Challenge on Twitter and Facebook:

https://twitter.com/BibleChallenge
https://www.facebook.com/theamericanbiblechallenge

GIVEAWAY:

Congratulations to comment #4, My Flower!

One lucky reader will win The American Bible Challenge Prize Pack!

The American Bible Challenge Prize Pack INCLUDES:
- 1 official “The American Bible Challenge” Tee-shirt
- 1 11x17 official Season 3 poster

To enter to win, tell me if you have ever watched The American Bible challenge or if you think you could win if you were on the show. Please be sure to leave your e-mail address with the comment, so I can contact you if you're the winner.

Each household is only eligible to win One (1) The American Bible Challenge Prize Pack via blog reviews and giveaways. Only one entrant per mailing address per giveaway. If you have won the same prize on another blog, you will not be eligible to win it again. Winner is subject to eligibility verification.

Extra Entries:(1 extra entry per method. Leave a comment for each.)
*Subscribe to my blog in the upper left hand corner.
*Follow me through Google Friend Connect
*Follow me on twitter.
*Tweet this giveaway and leave the URL in your comment
*Follow me on Pinterest
*Pin an image from this post to one of your boards
*Leave a comment on a non-giveaway post and let me know which post.

Open to U.S. residents 18 years and older. Giveaway will end Wednesday, June 4th, 2014 at 11:59 EST. Winner will be chosen shortly after and contacted via e-mail. The winner will have 48 hours to respond otherwise I will have to choose a new winner.

Morgan's 8th Birthday

We celebrated Morgan's birthday with family a couple weeks early, because it just worked out the best time for several reasons...and EVERYONE made it! 

 

 

Morgan helped design her birthday cake.  We actually used food coloring in the cake batter to make it marbled with purple.  Morgan thought that was GREAT!

 

 Morgan received a lot of great presents!  She has several new craft projects AND science projects to do, several new clothes for her and outfits handmade by my mom for her American Girl Doll, a talking Olaf that she has wanted since Christmas and more wonderful gifts.

 

 She is ready to try that one-of-a kind cake...

...had to blow the candle out first though.

 

We had tried to keep the party simple.  Morgan asked for snacks instead of a dinner/cookout, so I was able to prepare everything ahead of time.  Turns out when you only feed snacks, though, your guests don't fill up on a dinner and EVERYONE takes cake.  We need to remember to make a bigger cake next time...although we managed to spread that little cake out to 20 people! ;-) (Rich and I were the only ones who didn't get a piece.)

 

**************

 

Even though we have a party at a separate time, we still try to make the actual birthday special too.  I think Morgan was more excited than I've ever seen her before for this birthday.

 

Morgan requested waffles for breakfast, but I talked her into pancakes...since Birthday panCAKEs seemed to fit the occasion better.  (And they don't take nearly as long to make...VERY important on a school morning!)  She even got to choose her topping of blue icing and pink sprinkles.

 

Morgan decorated the cupcakes for her class this year.  They smelled delicious!  (Rich and I still didn't get any cake...lol!)

 

 At school, Morgan's teacher gave her a few things for it being her birthday and some of her classmates made her cards.  When I picked her up from school, we went to the library.  The library had a contest where the top 20 guesses for the number of books in the library each received a digital bookmark.  I had gotten the call the day before that Morgan and Blake each received a bookmark, but Morgan won with the closest guess and got to choose something from their prize box!  I thought that would be a fun thing to do for a birthday activity! ;-)

 

We also stopped at the grocery store so Morgan could pick out an ice cream to have for an after school treat and she chose ice cream sandwiches. (Yum!)

 

After the kids had their treat, Morgan wanted to do one of her science projects she got at her birthday party and decided on the Dinosaur Dig.

 

She must have dug for that dinosaur for about 2 hours total, but this was the first piece she found.

 

Blake was getting too anxious watching Morgan dig, so he sat down with a new book and read it to me...wearing my sunglasses :-)

 

Morgan chose to have hot dogs and nachos for her birthday dinner.  My mom also stopped by and dropped off mini cupcakes.  (Rich and I finally got some cake!  LOL!)

 

After dinner Morgan opened her present that we saved for her birthday.  She received two books in the same series as "Like Bug Juice on a Burger".  As you can see, she was thrilled!

 

 She also got a couple cartridges for her InnoTab3...a Sophia the First game and a Doc McStuffins.  Again, super excited!  She had been wanting them since receiving her InnoTab for Christmas.

 

I offered for her to have a movie night or a family game night and she chose a game night.  We only played one game, Farkle Around, then she went back to digging out her dinosaur, which she finished, and playing her new InnoTab games.

 

Morgan's own dinosaur 'fossil' all pieced together.

 

We finished off the day measuring the kids' heights.  We try to do that a couple times a year...it's always neat seeing how much they've grown.  The last time we measured them was January 1st and Blake has grown just under an inch since then, while Morgan has grown just over an inch!  I had teased them before we started that they 'better not have grown at all'....no such luck! ;-)

A Comical Conundrum

Tonight, while Morgan was at Girl Scouts and Rich was grabbing groceries after work, Blake and I went out to do chores.  We pretty much finished everything up and were just feeding the cats, then had to grab the eggs.  Well, only two of the three cats showed up to eat, which is unusual...especially for the cat that was missing, but I didn't think too much of it.  Then I went to grab the eggs from the nest in the straw and there was a hen!  It was late enough that most of the chickens were roosting and definitely NOT laying....so the hen must be nesting....meaning she is pretty much going to stay in the same spot for the next 21 days.  (She'll get up now and then to get something to eat or drink.)

 

 

Just after noticing the hen, I saw a small head behind the hen, desperately wanting out to eat!  He was tucked back in a hole in the straw and the only way out was to go by the hen.  The problem is the hen doesn't want him anywhere near her and PECKS his head if he tries to get out!  I could not help but laugh at the dilemma this cat is in!

 

For now the cat is stuck, but I'm guessing the hen will fall asleep and he'll be able to sneak out...if not he's stuck until the hen decides to get up...or until Rich rescues him....firefighters rescue cats all the time, right? ;-)

 

This picture is going to make me laugh for a long, long time!  Never a dull moment when you have animals! :-)

Waiting on Baby

My sister is expecting her first baby at the end of the month.  I am so excited!  It's probably a good thing that she lives a couple hours away or I'd probably be over constantly trying to steal the little one away...not completely 'away'...just holding him/her. ;-)  I already love my little niece or nephew and am getting anxious to meet him/her!

Of course in getting ready for this baby, my mom planned a beautiful shower for my sister.  I helped a little, but most of it was my mom and I think she did a wonderful job!  She planned a small shower in her home with a baby clothes on a clothesline theme.  The meal was salads and tea....my mom even got out her china for it!

This is the template that I used to make the invitation...keeping with the clothesline theme

 

I searched Pinterest to look for ideas for the favors.  We kinda mixed a couple ideas and came up with this!  (There is a bag of microwave popcorn inside.) 

 

My mom did a little decorating with pictures of my sister and her husband when they were little...and in the middle is the ultrasound picture of their baby.  (This is also all in my parents' basement if you're wondering about the brick walls. :-)  )

 

Here are some clothes my mom hung up...she found them all at the resale shop...inexpensive decorations! 



 



The table with the place settings, favors, etc.

The dessert table!  The cake pops came from my sister's husband's cousin.  They were shipped from California! 

 

Here's a close-up.  They were too cute!  The flavors were fun-fetti and chocolate chip cookie dough (I believe). 

 

These are a couple food contributions that went along with the color scheme.  My mom also made a pastel green punch with lime sherbet and lemon-lime sodas, as well as tea pot shaped cookies with colored sugars...to go with the 'tea'. :-)

 

The door prizes were themed bags: wine/meat/cheese, wine/chocolate, vineyard scents from Bath & Body Works, Garden theme and a Chocolate theme. 

 

We didn't do games, but did a Baby Shower Mad Lib.  We had each of the three tables of ladies come up with the answers in their Mad Libs and then read off the story.  That was good for some laughs!! :-)

 

Of course my sister opened up several wonderful presents.  I didn't get any pictures personally, but she is like me and doesn't like her picture taken...so I'm sure she appreciates that there are none of her to post! ;-)

 



 Again, it was a beautiful shower and I hope a memorable one as well for my sister.  Now it's time for the baby to come!! ;-)

Winning the Reading Race!

For March is Reading Month, Morgan's teacher had a little competition within the classroom.  The kids were to try to finish as many of the accelerated reading tests as they could.  Morgan had told me about it, but for some reason it didn't register what she was actually doing...until she won!  LOL!  She read her little heart out at school, in a way racing with the other kids to read as much as she could, and managed to complete 42 tests! 

I think she was most excited about getting her name in the classroom newsletter:

 

All the kids received a prize of a pencil and bookmark as long as they did the competition.  Four kids received the pen, notebook and highlighter for reading a bit more.  For winning, Morgan's teacher is letting her pick out up to $10 worth of books from the Scholastic Book Order.  (Morgan said she also got a pencil too, but she kept it at school to use it there.)

 

A little side note: Blake's teacher held a popcorn themed challenge for his class for March is Reading Month.  Each week that they read 5 books (at home), they got a small prize (like a popcorn pencil, a popcorn bookmark and a bag of microwave popcorn).  If they finished reading 5 books (or more) every week for the month, they could get a big prize. Blake, and several other classmates, completed the challenge and brought home a popcorn bucket full of goodies!

 

I'm so proud of Morgan for her determination.  It doesn't surprise me, though, since she loves to read!  I'm also very proud of Blake.  He isn't into reading as much as Morgan is, and needs more assistance, but he was just as determined to have me sit down with him and read to complete the challenge.