Book Talk Tuesday - Lessons from a Beehive (giveaway)

I was in a few stores the other day and realized it is ALMOST BACK TO SCHOOL!!!  Where did the summer go? 

Seriously, where did it go?!

I know for some this is not a big surprise, but for me it was a little bit.  I was so happily going along, and then all of a sudden it was time to start gearing up for school again.

Then I saw that Carol had a new book out.

Lessons from a Beehive is awesome.

I have always wanted bees. 

The honey alone is a huge draw for me, but the rest of the benefits are great too.

You don't have to OWN bees though or even homeschool to enjoy this great new book.

Carol has broken it into subjects and given you enhancements and age appropriate things to do for each subject.  Here are a couple examples:

Science

• Research what makes honey crystallize. You might try this experiment found at Education.com to enhance your study.

• Compare the characteristics of honey with other liquids. Pour a small amount of honey, corn syrup, and pancake or maple syrup in individual bowls. Blindfold the child. Have him smell, taste, and feel each liquid to determine what it is.

Geography

• Put some powdered sugar in a shaker container. Wait by the flowers until a honeybee lands. Shake some sugar on her. Now you will be able to see her better. See how far you can follow her.
• A bee will travel up to two miles from its hive. Using a map, place a red X where your house is. Then using the map’s scale and compass, draw a circle with a two mile radius around your house. Your bees will travel inside that circle.

Math

• The daily death rate in a colony of 50,000 bees is about 500. What percentage is that? If your colony only had 30,000 bees, what would the daily death rate be?
• A honeybee beats its wings about 11,500 times a minute. A fly beats over 62,000 times a minute. How many times a minute does a fly beat more than a bee?

Art

• Have your older student do a research assignment on the symbolism of the honeybee and include where the bee was pictured in ancient artwork.
• Do you have hives? Have your children paint or draw on them.

Language Arts

• "Busy as a bee" and "You attract more flies with honey than with vinegar" are both proverbs that speak of either bees or honey. Define "proverb." Research other proverbs that mention bees or honey. Have your younger children copy them for handwriting practice. Have your older ones write a paper discussing a meaning of their favorite bee proverb.
• Find five scripture references to honey or honeycomb. Use them for copy work for your younger child. Have the children memorize the Proverbs that mention honey. Have the older ones write a paragraph to explain the meaning of the Proverbs.

Home Economics

• After washing a cut or scrape with soap and water, apply raw honey with the bandage. Record its progress and healing time. Treat a second wound with an over-the-counter preparation. Record its progress and healing time. Which wound healed faster? Which one healed without scarring?

And so much more.  This book is a treasure trove of excellent ideas if you have bees or not. 

Want to win your own copy?

This is open to anyone, anywhere.  It comes as a digital download and is so very worth it! 

Here's how to enter:  (Separate comment for each please!)

1. "Like" Lessons From the Homestead on Facebook
2. "Like" Welcome to the Madness on Facebook
3. Check out Lessons from the Homestead and tell me which one of her lesson books looks most interesting to you.
4. Leave a comment telling me about your favorite school curriculum or what you love most about school.

I also need a way to contact you, so please make sure you leave an email.  You can even leave it spelled out.  (eg.  kgm3boys (AT) gmail (DOT) com) 

The contest will end on Monday (August the 13th) at 8am Mountain standard time, and the winner will be contacted by email.  Good luck.

Cheers

Fire Disks and a Giveaway

A couple days ago I saw this really cool idea for fire starters.  I wanted some. 

I love my sawdust ones, and they burn REALLY well, but I wanted something a little more compact and easier for hiking or backpacking.  Enter this idea for fire disks.

I made some today and thought I would share really quick the things I learned so you can make some too if you want.

First, you  need some wax. 

I always have some of the stuff you use for canning in HUGE blocks so I used that, but you could use an old candle or something too.

You also need some of those cute little cotton make up remover pads.  I found that they were cheapest at the dollar store.  You can't beat $1!  (especially when the other ones at the drugstore/grocery store are just over $5!)

Second, wear an apron or some other form of covering.  Seriously.  Working with wax will always get your clothes some spots of wax.  Plus I am a wiper.  I wipe my hands all.the.time.  Aprons are good.

Third, get some sort of pot or can to melt you wax in.  You want it to be something you will never use again.  (or only use for wax)  It is darn hard to get wax off anything.

Boil some water and plop your chosen can (and wax) into said water.  If you are using an old candle and it is in a glass jar or something, leave it in there...it works great.

Boil until all the wax is nice and melted.

Fourth, separate all your little make up pads.  You need to put them in one at a time so separating them is good.

Fifth, place them in one at a time into your melted wax.  I just put them in until it was full.  Make sure that all of them are saturated.  It doesn't take much, just a couple seconds of soaking time, but stir them around to make sure they are nice and wet.

Sixth, remove with some tweezers (or some other form of squeezy things) because the wax is hot.  You don't want to burn your fingers. 

Place on some parchment paper.  Make sure it is not wax paper as that will not let the dry disks peel off. 

When they are dry they just peel right off the paper.  Presto!  You have some fire disks!

To use them you need to expose the fibers inside.  Wax will not just light on fire.  Tear them so the middle is exposed but not all the way.  Like so:

Light on fire and use instead of the yucky paper you would have used.  (or in the case of some scouts, lighter fluid)

Now because I am a pyro, I lit one so I could see how it burned.  I am like that.

Mine was still going strong after 8 min.  My sink was starting to get black though so I put it out. 

I was blowing on it, put a little water on it, and tried to simulate a few different conditions without actually going out into them and it just kept burning. 

That made me happy.

there is still a little bit of fluff left in there...i am sure it would keep going

Now, a word about my idiosyncrasies.

I need my things I burn to be nice and natural.  Untreated wood, unscented wax, and now 100% pure cotton for my pads. 

You could use any kind I am sure, but I will never use anything else.  I am just like that.  Chemicals in my food are a no go for me. 

Now because I like you.  (and because I made over 160 of them!)  I want to give some away to you all.  I would love to give some to ALL of you, but I am going to only mail out 4 packs of them to anywhere. (not just Canada and I am even willing to ship overseas...these little babies are light and easy to pack!) 

To enter to win here are some ways:

1. Like my page "Welcome to the Madness" on Facebook. (come back and comment that you did it)
2. Do a status share about the giveaway.  (come back and comment that you did this)
3. Leave a comment telling me what your favorite preparedness method is
4. BONUS (worth 2 entries):  Leave a comment about what you would like me to try and post about later.  I would like it to be a preparedness related item but anything goes.  Do you want to learn how to dehydrate?  Maybe what to use some of your food storage in?  How about new things to make to be more prepared?  I want you to tell me what you want me to post about.

That is 5 different entries you can get. 
I will draw a winner on Saturday morning (8am Mountain time) and will announce it then.  Super quick, but my Summer Camp series is starting on Monday!

Cheers

Easy Veggies - With Giveaway

As part of my garden planning, I always sit down and figure out what I need to order from my seed catalogues (see post here if you want to get some).  I have been gardening for a few years, since I was a little girl, so I know a few things about growing stuff.  I love to grow the "regulars" but I also like to try new things each year with some of them turning out to be my new favorites I come back to year after year.

Today I thought I would share a few favorites, and then some of the harder ones, then have a little giveaway.  Sound good?!  Good.

Simple and Easy to Grow Veggies:

*Small note, I have linked to Seed Savers on the links below.  For ease and because they are my favorite for heirloom seeds.  I do not get any $$ if you buy from them, I just enjoy their product.*

Beans - I love to grow Calypso, Jacobs Cattle, and Tigers Eye
Beets - I enjoy Chioggia, and Bulls Blood
Lettuce (leaf) - My favorites are Forellenschluss, Flame, Green Oakleaf,  Red Leprechaun, and Slobolt
Peas - I like to grow Amish Snap, Asparagus (not really a pea, but yummy), Blue Podded, and Green Arrow
Potatoes - My Son is in charge of these and he loves Purple Viking, La Ratte, and French Fingerling
Radishes - Super fun ones to grow are Early Scarlett Globe, and White Box
Spinach - I don't grow this, but my favorites to eat are America, and Red Malabar

If you are feeling a little adventurous, here are a few of my favorite "New Favorites":

• Strawberry Spinach (yummy spinach-like leaves and edible berries)
• Broccoli - Calabrese (the earlier the better to avoid caterpillers)
• Eggplant - Just try them.  I try a new variety each year because we love eggplant.  If you are not a fan of seeds or skin, try a smaller fruited variety. (applegreen and Rosa Bianca are our favorites)
• True Lemon Cucumbers are our favorite "fun" cukes, and we really want to try these Mexican Sour Ghurkins this year.
• Try some Muskmellons, really.  They are simple to grow (just grow them away from any other melon) and super yummy.
• Winter Squash are amazing, and store forever if you keep them cool and in the dark.  We love almost all of them.  (but for eye appeal, the Turks Turban are my favorite!)
• Instead of Spinach, I grow Swiss Chard.  I love the taste and the color it brings to my yard.  Try the rainbow ones, they are so fun.  (and tasty)
• Tomatillos are an acquired taste.  If you have acquired it, then try them out.  We plant only a couple plants because these little babies are crazy producers!
• Watermelons are an addiction for me.  I try a new kind each year, but always grow Sugar Baby.  We often have 3 or 4 different watermelons if we have the space.  (make sure they are not with other melons as they cross pollinate and make funny babies that taste nasty.)

Just so you know, I didn't include Tomatoes here on purpose.  They are so dependant on what you do with them...but I do have favorites!  I love tomatoes, but didn't include them on this list. 

Now we all know you probably only read this far for the giveaway right??! 

When I was a kid, my Mom would buy me a pack of my very own seeds. 

She was always so crazy smart (in my mind) because she could tell me what each little seed would grow into.  This pack has lots of fun in it.  What happens is all the leftover seeds get chucked into a big bin, mixed up, and packaged.  This is what you get.

I remember sitting for what seemed like hours (but was probably just one at the most), sorting and planning where each type of seed would go.  It was heaven to me.

Now I want to share this joy with you, and you can with your children.  If you want more (or don't win this one) you can pick them up at T&T Seeds for super cheap (5 of them for $1!).  They also have $2 shipping, so I pick them up often. 

To enter just comment with your favorite thing to grow in your garden.  Make sure you leave a way for me to contact you if your email is not attached to your profile.  The giveaway ends next week on Sunday night at 8pm.  I will post the winner next Monday.

Cheers

Giveaway of an Apple Variety...

It's been a while since I had a giveaway here...

I thought I might like to do one.

With fall here, there are a couple tastes that I associate with it.

One is pumpkin, and I LOVE me some pumpkin! 

Another is apple.  Hot apple cider on a fall or winter day just makes me happy.  Smelling mulled apple cider on the stove is one of my favorite smells.

While shopping the other day, I found this:

I am not a big fan of tea.  I drink it to help with a few maladies, but not for pleasure.

Dh loves to drink tea.  For fun! (he is a grandma in a man's body! :D)

When I came across this though, I have been enjoying it just for pleasure.  It tastes like apple, but also like rose and licorice.  Mmmm!

I am going to give one of you lucky readers a box of this. 

All you have to do is comment.  Please make sure that you have your email on your profile, or if you do not, please include it on your comment.  Giveaway ends next Tuesday, the 25th at 8pm.  I will post the winner on Wednesday morning.

Enjoy the Autumn.
Cheers

Book Talk Tuesday - Attica

Before we begin, who wants to be a winner?

If you said "ME!" and your name is Grandma, you were right!    Mom, don't email your info to me, I can just bring it over!  :)

On a total side note, my Mom (who has read my blog right from the start) actually commented on that post!  She has NEVER commented as a post comment before so it was quite exciting that Random.Org actually generated HER number!

And because I am feeling generous I am sending two out, because I want to...so the other winner is Tristan.  Lucky number 1!  (who also incidentally entered with her first comment ever as well!)  Tristan email me your address and I will send out this right away.  (kgm3boysATgmailDOTcom)

Today we have my oldest son guesting again.  Isn't it lovely when your mom makes you do things?!  :)  So here he is:

Three kids go into their attic to look for a watch that an old man that lives with them lost in the attic long ago. While they are in there, they meet strange creatures that inhabit a strange new world that the kids have never seen. While they are there they get split up and have to try to rescue each other. While they are there they also make some friends. The best part of the book was when Alex helps protect a board-combers ( a board comber is someone that collects things ) secret place were she keeps her stuff. There's a battle against the organist and he was just angry at the board-comber for living on his land ( which it really isn't ) and so in the end they send the organist and his armies running. Then they find out that he ran away because he planted a bomb and he wanted to be far enough away that he didn't get hit by the bomb. They have to escape the bomb.

I think other teens/preteens would like to read this book because it's funny and adventurous. My mom was the one who recommended this book to me because she wanted to read it, but didn't have time so I decided that I'll read it for her because I like reading different things.

I borrowed this book from the public library. 

I think that I would read it again because it was very adventurous and mysterious and I like that kind of books. It took me about a week to read, because the chapters were big and there were lots of pages. I think ages 11 to 15ish would enjoy this book because I was 11 when I read it. I think boys and girls would enjoy this because there is a girl that is in the story that goes up in the attic ( she is one of the three kids that go up ) and she is very funny.

K.C. is an almost 12 year old boy who loves to read.  Almost above all else!  He just finished grade 6 and is looking forward to starting grade 7 in September.  He writes a private blog for school and loves to make stories up, and write lists just like his Momma! 

As always if you would like to guest post, I would love to have you (young or old, whatever book you think we would love to read).  Email me at kgm3boysATgmailDOTcom

Cheers

Giveaway Time

This weekend is a long weekend here in Alberta.
We are going to be busy fonduing with friends, Geocashing, and shooting our new guns...

....So...I thought it would be fun to go all of that.  :)  That means I am going to be not posting for a few days, but to keep you busy, here is a little giveaway:

I was sorting through some of my sewing stuff to make some messenger bags for my boys and came across this big bag of iron on transfers.  I finally sorted them and found that there were lots of doubles (and girly ones) that I thought maybe someone would love to have.

All you have to do to enter is comment.  I would love to hear what your summer plans are for this summer.  (if you want to share)

I will post anywhere, and welcome anyone to comment.

I will announce the winner on Book Talk Tuesday (my son is guesting for me).

Have a great weekend!

Cheers

Book Talk Tuesday - Book Giveaway

When I was a young girl I loved Narnia.  I read the first three books (because I didn't know there were more) and loved them.  Now, I have all of them and have a goal to finish the series. 

When I bought the movie yesterday I had to buy this two pack.  The DVD and the book.  As I said, I already own the book, but thought that one of YOU might like to have it.

For Book Talk Tuesday today we are going to give away this Narnia book.  It is "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader".  Lovely movie.  Now I have to go read the book.

To enter,

Leave a comment telling me what your favorite book was as a young adult/or favorite book now.

That's it.  I get a little antsy when someone has this long list of additional entries, so I like to keep it simple.  :)

The Giveaway will stay open until Monday (the 18th) at 8pm and the winner will be announced next Book Talk Tuesday.  Good luck.

Cheers

Winner

I wanted to write weeee-ner because that it how we say it in our house...but I didn't.  (although now I have I guess! :D)

So, the winner of Pajama Sam according to Random.org is #4, Gicela.

Lucky for me as that totally saves shipping!  :)  Plus...I know where you live.  Ohhh, that sounds creepy!  :)

Have a wonderful weekend! 

I get to meet my new niece this weekend and I am so excited!  (It seems that I am the only one of my sibs that is able to have boys so far, my poor little men.)

Cheers

Giveaway Time

Son #3 loves Pajama Sam.  Have you ever heard of him? 

There is this little boy (Sam) who has these adventures as Pajama Sam, his alter ego that is a super hero.  He goes on adventures in various places.  In one that we have, he has to find stuff in his messy room, all of a sudden his room is an amazing land to discover his stuff.  In this one, he has to find food hidden all over his house.  His house takes on a totally foreign land feel.  Totally fun for kids.

The adventures take a while to complete, in fact my son is still working on them, but there are little games and things to do throughout the whole thing.  It is very age appropriate.  I am thinking an older 4 and up...my older boys even enjoy playing it.

I was on Ebay a few weeks ago and bought him a pack of three disks...BUT I accidentally bought one we already had.

I want to share.

Do you want it?

To get it, all you have to do is comment.  Make sure that if your email is not attached to your profile that you add an email at the bottom of your comment. 

If you want an additional entry, you can blog about your favorite game for your kids (but come back and tell me in the comments) or send a friend over (also tell me in the comments if they are being sent by you).

The giveaway is open until March 1st at 8am.  Mr. Random.org will pick a number and I will post it here.  Good luck.

Cheers

Wikki Winners

And the winners are.....

# 14 - Melissa
# 12 - Lynn
# 8 - Cassi

(someday I will learn how to do cool things like embed random.org's number generator, and the actual comments that you did...but until now, this is what you get!  :D)

OK, maybe I am a geek...or just not used to MANY comments, but I was thrilled with how many of you entered.  Anyway, I am glad I can giveaway something that so many of you were excited about.  (14 is many to me!  :D)

I sure appreciate all of you coming here and finding some time in your busy day to visit us here in this little corner of blog land.  :)

Thank you.

Cheers

Wikki Stix

We found a really fun toy educational tool the other day.

I am probably behind the times, but I had never seen these before.  We have had such fun with them.

They are wax covered little bendy strings.  (think really thin candle's that you have dipped)  You can shape them into any shape and then you can reuse them over and over.  We really have used them over and over!  They stick to themselves, each other and any surface.  They do leave a bit of a residue behind, but it is just a little waxy and cleans easily with soap and water.

I didn't buy them to play with them, but there have been many a lolly made with them!  :)  Great fun.  We have made people, snails, little volcano's that erupt blue lava, ducks, dogs and many other really awesome things.

I bought them primarily for kindergarten letter practice...

...but the other stuff is also really hard to resist!  :)

HERE is the web site.  There are lots of cool things to make, or places that sell them, or you can just pick up some from there.  (I am really tempted by the resturant packs)

Want a little sample pack to call your own?

I am willing to send it anywhere....

Just leave a comment.  (with a way to contact you if your email is NOT linked to your profile, I don't have all of your addresses :D) 

I will pick three lucky winners at the end of the week  (well, random.org will) so I will keep the giveaway open until 8pm Thursday night.  I will post the winners on Friday morning.

Good luck  (and really here, your chances of winning are pretty good!  :D)
Cheers

Ps...as always, this is a product I have bought on my own...I do not receive them for free, nor do I get anything to say stuff on here...I just want to pass on a little fun to you.

Book Talk Tuesday's (and a giveaway)

I am pretty excited to announce this....

Starting next Tuesday, I will be featuring a guest post from a young person, "Book Talk Tuesday".  Each post will be on a book or series that they have read recently.  Every second and fourth Tuesdays of each month there will be a new review posted.  I am really excited to see each one! 

(if you are a young person from the ages of 9 to 18 that would love to write for me, email me...I really want to hear from you...kgm3boysATgmailDOTcom...or if you are a parent of such a young person, please also email me)

In my excitement, I am doing a giveaway. 

One series my boys got for Christmas was the "Worst Case Survival" series.  There are junior editions that they have been reading. 

I have an extra one for you.  One lucky reader who comments will get this one sent to them:

All you have to do is comment.

Tell me what you want to see reviewed.
Tell me if this is a feature you are looking forward to.
Tell me how your holidays went...

...anything you want to tell me.  :)

The giveaway will be open until my first guest post next Tuesday.  (and because I am the Mom, it is my son, he's working hard on it!)  :)

Cheers 

Seriously Cool

Well, I think so anyway.

I had over 300 page views this week (for some that may not be a big deal, but I liked it!) some of the places they were from:

Costa Rica
Isle of Man (have to google earth THAT one!)
South Korea
Macedonia
Russia
Ukraine
Netherlands
France
Slovenia
Australia
United Kingdom
Germany
Poland
Canada
US

I want to "meet" you visitors that come to my site....however humble it may be.

How about we do a giveaway with it?!

If you comment, (even/especially if you have never commented before) for every 10 comments I will send out a prize to someone Mr. Random.org chooses....anywhere in the world.  Think of it as my early Christmas present.

So, Comment.  Make sure I have a way of contacting you.  I am going to enable anonymous comments for this week (I will mail out prizes on the 18th, so if you comment after, I would love to read it, but no more prizes, sorry) so that I can get everyone who feels like they want to comment.  That is all you have to do.

I am excited to see who visits and comments (gotta give props to my my regular commenter's here as well...please keep commenting, I LOVE comments!). Thank you for thinking that this is a place you like to visit!  :)

Cheers

Mad Skills....

....my dh has them! 

I figure he is sitting in bed playing M's DS so he can make me a little sumpin sumpin...right?!  Just sayin. 

I found this great little bracelet on a blog (following links like I do sometimes) and was so sad that I don't crochet...then I remembered my dh DOES!  :)  Horray!  So I bribed him with a shower (with WARM water!) if he would make me one...or ten.



a hand model I am not...



Check out the details.  He is a great sport.  I love the one he has finished and he is working on a few more.  (my boys think they need one, so he had them pick out some "boy" colored floss and he figures he may have a "boy" design worked up soon.)

Want one? 

My dh is so wonderful he is willing to send you one if you are the lucky commenter.  I will pick the winner (well Mr. Random will) on Wednesday in honor of his first official day back at work.  8:00 AM and I will let you know who wins.  All you have to do is leave a comment.  (feel free to tell your friends!)

Cheers

ps...I realized I don't say this often enough...THANK YOU FOR READING MY BLAH, BLAH!  I appreciate you reading, it makes it so much more fun for me to actually keep a journal type of thing here.  So, Thank you.

SWEET!

....And the winners are:

Lucky Number 6 - Missy
Lucky Number 2 - Shauna

(because Cassi, your two comments counted as one!  :D)
Missy and Shauna, email me and let me know what your mailing address is so I can get you your prize. (kgm3boysATgmailDOTcom)

Cheers

Giveaway

The other day while browsing I found a bunch of these "mad libs" knockoffs.  I bought a whole pile and thought I would share with you.

My kids love writing in them.  There are fun lists of words for each story so there is less of the out of control silly that tends to happen with boys.  :)  It is also wonderful for the "creative" part of creative writing, gets them thinking outside of the box a bit.

If you want to win one (there will be two winners) all I want is a comment.  I want to know what your favorite part of fall is.  If you have a favorite recipe, (please include!) if you have a favorite tradition, or even a favorite decoration.  I want to know it.  The contest will end next Monday (October 18th) at 8am Mountain Time.

For now, here is one of my new favorite recipes. (I did post this on my food storage blog so sorry if you have read that already) One of my very favorite parts of fall is the abundance of pumpkins...LOVE pumpkin food.  We had this for Thanksgiving dessert and it was loved by all but a SIL who found out she didn't like molasses!  :)

First off, sorry for the secondhand picture.  I forgot to take a picture BEFORE we ate it, so this is a picture of the scooped out leftovers.  It is a really pretty cake if you take a picture before you eat it!  :)

Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle

The day before make your cake:
Gingerbread Cake
1/2 tsp Baking soda
1/2 tsp Baking powder
1 tsp Cinnamon
1/4 C Brown sugar
1 tsp Ground ginger
11/4 C Flour
Mix together, make a well at the center and add:
1/2 Molasses
1/2 C Apple sauce
2 Egg whites
1/2 C Milk
Mix together and pour into a well greased 8X8 pan.  Bake for 30 min at 350F until cooked through.  Makes a really moist and chewy cake.

The next day make the pudding:
4 cups milk
2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch
1 medium egg
3 tablespoons margarine
2 teaspoons vanilla

In a saucepan combine the sugar and cornstarch. Gradually stir in the milk. Heat the pudding over medium heat. Stir constantly until it boils. Boils for a  minute. Remove from heat and add the margarine and vanilla, stir until the margarine melts.  The pudding will thicken up considerably as it cooks.

In a separate bowl:
1 C Canned pumpkin (your own or from a store, just make sure there aren't any spices, if there are, don't add the next spices)
1 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Cloves
1/2 tsp Nutmeg
1/4 tsp Allspice
1/2 C Brown sugar
Mix well and add to the Vanilla pudding mixture.

Make a batch of whipping cream or use a tub of whipped topping.

Layer in large bowl, cake, pudding and whipping cream, cake, pudding and whipping cream.  Top with crushed gingersnaps if desired.

Cheers

Random Things Pop into my Head...

Totally random, things that are not related, or may be...all these things are on my mind...

1.  So today I discovered that Nursery is HARD!  I knew this, I kind of have experienced it...but today was the hardest day so far!  I finally begged to be set apart and the blessing was just what I needed.  One of the things that was said that I most appreciated was that I would have the blessing of health to be pain free.  Without knowing my pain this blessing was given to me.  I was also blessed with patience...something that I desperately need.  What a wonderful blessing to know that Heavenly Father know me and can inspire the priesthood holders giving me the blessing, to say the things I need the most right now!

2.  This might have been the most fun thing we did for kindergarten this week...we made a growing "E".  He is loving watching it grow.  :) 

3.  I am 33...but apparently I am never going to grow out of getting the adolescent zits!  Today I have a whopper that I have decided to name Ethel.  She will be part of me for a while.  :)

4.  Maybe Ethel is here to visit because of my new love....although I really have only eaten one a day.  (for real!)

5.  I know you all know my addiction to books...so I thought I would show you my two newest...

The boys have been loving the cool "where's waldo" type puzzles on each page of the Made YOU Look book.   (only $1 at one of my favorite second hand stores)  And, I have been looking for a tastefully written puberty book (seems my boys are growing up) and finally found this one while grocery shopping. 

6.  Finally, because Ethel is here, I am feeling rather glum.  So to cheer myself up, I want to give you something.

I found these a while ago and bought a few.  I thought I would share.  I love post it notes, but these are cool to help your littles (or not so little) learn spelling or multiplication.  I will post anywhere, and there will be two winners chosen (one for each) on the 22nd.  To enter just comment.  I will ask random.org to choose the winner on that night!  On thursday I will let the winners know and post it to you on friday I hope!

Cheers!

Giveaway...

One of the things that I didn't write my guest post about was spending time as a family.  I spend lots of time writing about things like that...so I figured that I would give that a pass...

But, since I like to write about my family I thought I would give you a little present.  :)

We LOVE to play games as a family.  One of our favorites is when we can ALL play a game together.  One of my littlest guys favs is this one:  (so simple that about 4 yrs old can play it)

Want one?  This one is just for you...well, one of you.  I haven't even opened this one...we do have our own.  :)

Here is how you enter...comment.

I want to know what you like to do as a family. 

Simple isn't it.

Cheers

oooops...lets make the deadline the 20th...I have 2 birthdays after that so then I can prepare.  :)

Winner, Winner...

...Chicken Dinner.  Well, charm packs anyway.  :) 

While going through my pile I decided that I would give 3 "charm packs" of 10 fabrics each to the winner.  I have 3" ones, 4" ones and 5" ones.  So, according to my random oldest 2 boys who both thought of the same number (because I can't figure out how to put a widget on here with the random.org) the lucky #5 (that's you Cassi) gets this lovely package...

3"

4"

5"

And because my random hubby and 3rd son wanted to tell me a number(and also gave me the same one)...#6 can have a pack of 10 4" squares (that's you Amy...just a start for a quilt...but now you HAVE to make your own!) :)

Thank you to everyone for your kind words and encouragement.  I have had so much fun in this adventure.  I am really looking forward to many more.  In a couple days I have another giveaway coming up...I found a game that we are going to review and YOU can have a copy as well if you enter, so watch for it!

Cheers

300 posts!

Hey wanna celebrate with me?

This is my 300th post.  I never imagined that I would love blogging so much and come to love "chatting" with all of you and in the process write something for my kids to look back on and call my journal!

So, to thank you for coming on this journey with me...

How about winning something?

I am participating in an I Spy Quilt square exchange, and I totally overbought.  SO, how about I pass on a "charm pack" to a random person?  Giveaway will close by the 22nd of July, at 5 pm (mtn standard) and I will draw a number with Mr. Random!  :)  I will mail it anywhere. (so, yes all you folks NOT in Canada...you can enter as well! :D)

Just leave a comment.  Please let me know what you might like to see more of in my next 300 posts or what you like best.  (it may or may not appear in the blog, but it will be welcome)

Cheers