it’s about time I had a giveaway

I won these cozy fingerless mitts in a giveaway a few months back.  And when they arrived in the mail I thought, I really really need to do a giveaway soon.  I’ve won my fair share of goodies, and I’ve always intended to spread the love and give away some handmade something-or-other . . . someday.  It’s been on my To Do list for far too long, mostly because I can barely find time to craft the gifts I need for family and friends, let alone something extra to give away.

But I finally realized that as nice as it would be to give something handmade, it doesn’t have to be anything crafty.  So I turned to one of the other great loves in my life:

Books.

I’m giving away one copy of The Barefoot Book of Earth Tales.  Quite timely, with Earth Day just around the corner!  (I’m excited about that because I hardly ever do things in a timely manner.)  Here’s the description, from the Barefoot Books website:

Learn how different cultures around the world set out to live in harmony with the natural world. The seven folk tales are each followed by a hands-on activity that promotes green living and reinforces the eco-messages of the stories.

In the interest of full disclosure, I feel like I should mention that I’m a Barefoot Books ambassador (kind of like being an Amazon affiliate).  When Adeline and I first started checking out mountains of picture books from the library, I noticed that a lot of the ones I really loved were published by Barefoot.  I took a peek at their website and discovered that I could possibly benefit by sharing my love of these great books.  So there you have it.

 

To enter, just leave a comment below.  The giveaway will be open til 8:00 PM (CST) on Sunday, April 1.  Winner will be chosen by random number generator.  Good luck!

 

 Comments are closed and the winner is Urban Sprout!

the goings on

Bea can’t quite wrap her mind around the fact that we don’t need to put on mittens and hats before we go out anymore.  If someone mentions “outside,” she runs to the hat basket and starts bundling up.  Probably I should just pack all that winter gear away, but part of me (the part that has lived 26 years in South Dakota) can’t quite believe that it won’t snow again.

We planted lettuces, spinach, and Swiss chard in our planters.  They sprouted within 4-5 days.  Adeline is thrilled, and I’m thrilled watching her.  And I can’t wait to eat a homegrown salad with our new favorite dressing.

Adeline and I have been reading a chapter of Tumtum and Nutmeg every night before bed.  Reading chapter books with my children is something I daydreamed about before I even had children.  I never thought it would be happening already, but Adeline is very excited about it.  She actually says she’s ready for bed about an hour earlier than her bedtime, because she wants to find out what’s happening to those mice.  We’re nearing the end, so I’m trying to decide on our next book.  Any suggestions on favorite chapter book read-alouds for the very young?

We switched cat foods, and our cat has been constantly hacking up hairballs (something he never did before).  There is no reason for you to know or care about this, except that Beatrice, the great imitator, tries to make the same sounds as the hacking cat, which is rather hilarious.

As a housewarming gift, we put out a bowl of small scraps of yarn and fabric to welcome back all those birds who’ll be building new nests (an idea from The Rhythm of the Family).  I don’t think any birds have taken anything, but it’s a fun idea anyway.

It is March.  We have already played in the sprinkler.  This blows my mind.

I am laughing at the fact that the last few loads of laundry contained long underwear, swimsuits, wool socks, shorts, and skirts, footie pajamas and sleeveless nightgowns.

We’ve been trying to encourage Adeline to be more independent and take more responsibility for herself.  There is so much that she is able to do, but she lacks the motivation to do it.  So I’ve been trying not to lose my temper and yell when “encouraging” doesn’t work; also trying not to lose my patience and just do it for her when she dawdles.  Easier said than done.

One result of this encouragement with regards to dressing herself means that she often changes outfits three or more times a day now.  I try not to freak out about all the laundry this is creating.  After all, this springtime weather, so cool in the morning and hot by afternoon, often necessitates at least one change anyway.

In that last picture, under her jacket Bea is wearing two of her sister’s t-shirts over her pajama top, and Adeline’s skirt over Adeline’s shorts over five pairs of Adeline’s underwear.  Gah, the laundry!

{this moment}

From Soulemama: {this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

yarn along

Reading: I know I’m not the first one to mention it, but we’re in love with Annabelle and her box of never-ending yarn in Extra Yarn.  It was first recommended to us by our librarians (you know that perhaps you are an overly-zealous library patron when they hand you a book you hadn’t reserved with a note — “We thought you would enjoy this” — or perhaps it just means you have really good librarians!).  After the very first reading I ordered my own copy from Amazon.  It’s so great.

Knitting (together!):  Adeline loves the fingerless mitts I won in Svenna’s giveaway, so I’m making some for her.  She also loves the knitting fork she got for Christmas.  I wasn’t sure if she’d be able to do it, but she learned with very little frustration (which is rare with this child).  She’s working on a chain that we plan to weave into a rug – exciting!

yarning along with Ginny

happy spring!

progress report

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Our crocuses croaked.  After 3 days of 80-degree weather, they just couldn’t take it anymore.  Perhaps I should have watered them sooner?  I noticed our neighbors daffodils suffered the same fate.  I had finally got my head wrapped around the fact that winter is not coming, and accepted that spring is here — but now it seems we’ve moved straight into summer.  Ack!

{this moment}

From Soulemama: {this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

{this moment}

From Soulemama: {this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

we’ve sprung

We returned home from a trip last weekend to find these little guys springing up in our flowerbed.  The weather was amazing and we spent the afternoon digging around in the mulch, hunting for sprouts.  Never mind that we spent the next afternoon re-mulching in fear of frost.  Now we know they’re there, and it won’t be long til we see some blooms!

Also, Adeline got a scooter.  Note in the first photo: no knee-pads.

And in the second, taken 10 minutes later: knee & elbow pads, with a Dora band-aid underneath.  Is there some unwritten rule that on the very first shorts-wearing day of the season you have to fall and scrape your knees real bad?

Also, Jake made wooden planters for me to grow lettuce in.  Well, he wants to grow hops.  But I think I can get a crop of lettuce in first.  (Adeline painted the suncatchers.)

weekending

I haven’t felt very inspired to pick up my camera lately, which is one of many reasons this blog has been rather quiet.  But this weekend, I decided to dust off the camera, and this is the result.  Perhaps I went a bit overboard…

This weekend was very full, and very together.

We started off the weekend with a morning of sledding and snow eating.  We’ve learned this winter that if you wake up to a world of white, you better go out and enjoy it, because it might not be so white anymore by the afternoon.

There was a bit of knitting, which of course requires my bag of notions to be raided and stitch markers to be scattered across the living room.

Jake and Adeline shared a bit of daddy/daughter Super Mario bonding time.  Adeline has developed a taste for princesses.  Disney princesses, to be more specific.  We’re trying to convince her that there are some other great princesses out there . . . so now she pretends she’s Princess Peach.

Some brew was bottled.

We learned about clouds.

Adeline has been talking about herself in the third person.

A & B were good friends these past few days, which is a relief because I’ve had it up to here with playing referee all day.  Adeline even helped put on Bea’s diaper and get her in her pajamas, which is the first time she’s helped with a diaper ever.

We spotted a cardinal eating our birdfood this morning.  It was a mama, so she wasn’t that cheerful spot of red we always hope to see, but she brightened our morning nonetheless.

As has been the trend this winter, our snow didn’t stay long, leaving us with plenty of mud to play in.  We went all went out for a walk, and before we’d even been out two minutes, Bea fell right into a puddle.  That’s what happens more often than not, actually, when we go out for walks in the mud.

Hope your weekend was full and wonderful, too.

Joining Amanda today.