Teddy Bear Picnic

At noon last Thursday, I was mending Beth's teddy bear in preparation for the Teddy Bear Picnic.  It was the last day of her library program and the finale was as none other than an afternoon Teddy Bear Picnic.  I've attended my share of Teddy Bear Picnics' over the years, but this one seemed particulary significant for me as it was my last.  In September, Beth is in school for full days and that means no more weekly Story Hour programs for her.   I soaked up every moment of that afternoon.  

Happy.

Happier.

Parachute time.

Let the picnic begin:)

"My Mom's realizing that this is the last Library program I will be a part of.  I'm growing up."

Delightful.

"Okay, Mom - stop -  that's enough photos!"

Weekend Links:)

Here are a few things I have been reading/listening to and enjoying as of late.

A Mother's Day message I loved by Shauna Niequist can be found here.  I especially loved the part about having the guts and making the time to connect deeply with other women.  About having a tribe.  Knowing we are not alone and letting others know that too.  About walking with one another in both joy and sorrow.  And about bout caring for ourselves as Mom's.  Really challenging and inspiring.  I think I might listen to it again and take notes:)

Michael Hyatt's podcast on Authentic Leadership can be found here.  Super fun for me because I even got a question answered :)

this post on Summer Style at Simple Design.

I pretty much love anythign that Christine Caine has to say.  Her podcasts on women in leadership are beyond fantastic.

This post  on joy and gratitude was just the reminder I needed.

How about you?  Read anything great online lately?

Here for a good time

Last Thanksgiving we were camping with some dear friends.  It was unreal because the weather was unusually warm for that time of year.  We spent our afternoons relaxing on the beach, reading, throwing a football and the kids even swam in Lake Erie.

On the last afternoon, two of the families had already packed up.  It was just Perry, Dee, Steve and I and our girls and we were lounging on the beach.  None of us wanted to leave.  We were hanging onto every second of that beach day.  The kids were playing happily and somehow the adults got to talking about books.  I was in the midst of reading The Power of a Whisper by Bill Hybels.  Perry and I were talking about the part in the book where Hybels challenges his readers to choose and live out a life verse.   Naturally, I posed the question, "do you guys have a life verse?  If so, what is it?'

Before any of the adults could even answer, Eva (my-at-the-time-9-almost-10-year-old) who was playing close by in the sand piped up.  Without missing a beat, she said something like, "you know we're not here for a long time, we're here for a good time - so, I want to make it good"  at which point we adults started roaring with laughter realizing that maybe, just maybe Eva has been listening to a little too much country music....ha!  I love that girl!

Just for the record, my life verses are:

• Jeremiah 17:7,8
• 2 Timothy 1:7
• Micah 6:8
• 1 Thessalonians 5:21
• but all that is for another post:)

One last thing,  I thought it would be fun to do a giveaway!

I'm giving away an audio copy of The Power of a Whisper!

To qualify, all you have to do is be a new subscriber via email to my blog between now and Friday, May 25th.  On Friday at 6 p.m. I will use random.org and pick a winner and contact them.  Best of luck.  You can find the spot to subscribe via email at the top right corner of my blog.

Happy Long Weekend Friends!

Springtime in Niagara

A couple of weeks ago, when the blossoms were at their finest, I grabbed my camera and hopped in my car.  The orchards were were calling me with their sweet scent and magnificent colour.  Breathtaking in every possible sense.

After my nap, we sat in the hotel lobby, looking at a catalogue of flowers that Tom would plant at his house and mine in the fall.  He wanted me to pick out my favorite color daffodil for him to plant, but I said, "Don't they just die in four or five days, and not come until the following spring?  So what is the point?"

"The point is those four or five days," he said.

Anne Lamott - Some Assembly Required

page 259

Savouring

In response to this post and because of this post, here's what I am savouring and celebrating this weekend:

• new (much needed) bike helmets for the girls, which means lots of bike riding in the neighborhood.
• all things spring - lilacs, lily of the valley, blossoms, and so on.  
• windows open.
• the flowers (and weeds) my 4 year old picked me on our walk yesterday.
• an unstructured and unhurried weekend.
• barbequing and eating outdoors.
• I figured out how to get my camera to work again.  So great.
• friendships.
• the journey of motherhood.
• the inspirational and influential women in my life who have and are shaping me.
• my backyard that is taking shape this very minute.  My husband has been working hard on our yard for the last few weeks and it looks amazing!   I'm so crazy about him right now.

How about you?  What are you savouring and celebrating this weekend?



p.s.  thanks Beth - I'm loving your blog :)

Weekend Links

 

It's the weekend and the weather is perfection.  The warmth of the sun on my face is golden.  I'm soaking in the sounds and smells of spring.   Every time I go on my back deck, I savour the scent of my neighbours lilacs.  And it's heavenly.

Hope you all have a great Mothers Day weekend and are able to deeply celebrate and honour the influential women in your life; both past and present.

If you are looking for some good reading/listening material this weekend,  here are a few of my favourites from this past week:

A Little Beauty Goes a Long Way by Simple Mom.  I really loved and resonated with this post.  The only thing I would add to her list would be fresh flowers:)

Podcast by Michael Hyatt: The Secret Power of Naps.  Since being pregnant and having babies, I have become a big believer in naps.  Even nowadays, I will take a 20-30 minute nap 2 or 3 times a week.  This is something my Mom always did when she was raising her family and she encouraged me to do the same.  I loved listening to this podcast and am committed to napping more than ever!

A Commencement Speech by Shauna Niequist.  Simply fantastic.  I especially loved the part about living life with curiosoty, a lifelong love for learning and a willingness to be wrong.  If you read nothing else this week, read this.

Every Mother Matters by Lynne Hybels.  This post was a lovely reminder about living beyond ourselves.

How about you?  What has inspired you this week?

p.s.  Hand Made Market.  If you live in Niagara and have some free time this weekend, this is so worth checking out.  Everything about it is amazing.  The food, wine, the various forms of art, artisans, location, atmosphere.  Really great.

Uncomfortable

If you had a word to describe this season in your life, what would it be?

For me, these days, my word is uncomfortable.  Not bad, just uncomfortable.  It's the land where I've been living, so it seems.

1.  It's having hard conversations.  Initiating conversations that are difficult (at least for me).  It's stepping through fear.  Pursuing peace.  Speaking the truth in love.  Hard work.  Worthwhile and so rewarding.  Always much easier to say that on the other side.

2.  It's giving up control.  A friend reminded me recently over a cup of tea that when we control something, it dies.

3.  It's being okay with having different opinions and maybe even beliefs and convictions than others.  It's knowing that I don't have all the answers.  And often have more questions than answers.  It's also coming to the realization that to admit weakness and need is actually a sign of courage and stength.

4.  It's transitioning from being a stay-at-home Mom to being a flexible-work-really-part-time-Mom.  It's requiring better time management from me and saying no to some things so that I can say yes to new things.  It's a season of change.  It's exciting and scary at the same time.  I feel vunlerable and nervous learning new things.  I feel stretched and challenged and afraid of failure all at the same time.  It's a new and scary space for me, but I like it.  I feel so alive.  I'm embracing the newness of this season.  I'm walking through the fear, believing that there are good challenges to be learned and great things around the corner.  I'm realizing that being comfortable is not really the goal.  It's in the uncomfortable places that change, deep growth and new life happens.

5.  It's change as far as our church location goes.  We are in the midst of launching a new site in my community.  So exciting and yet, I know that it means saying goodbye so I can embrace the new.  It's not at all lost on me that this transition is happening during the season of lent;  a season of dying and new life.

It's a weird place to be.  Not at all awful.  But not entirely comfortable either.  Taking things one step at a time.  Doing the next task God puts in front of me each day and trusting Him with the results.  Walking through the fear and discovering that the things that I thought scared me are not that big after all.

I'ts funny, I wrote this post a couple of weeks ago and never got around to publishing it.  All of these things I wrote about are true, but already a few weeks later I'm not feeling so uncomfortable.  Or maybe I'm just okay with being and feeling uncomfortable.  Maybe it's the new norm:)

Giveaway!

You may remember that last year, I wrote a post about Better World Shopper.  You can read about it here.

I've been in touch with the author of Better World Shopper, Dr. Ellis Jones.  He graciously offered me 2 books to giveaway on my blog.  So fun!

To be entered in the draw, just leave a comment with your name below.

You have until Monday, April 2nd, at noon to enter. The winners will be chosen randomly. I'll announce the winners later that day, so be sure to check back then.

I'll post the two winners on Monday afternoon.

Best of luck!

Spring

We spent our March Break in Virginia.  The 8 hour drive was so worth it when we woke up the following morning to mountains and warm weather.  I can't decide if I love being near mountains or being near water more.  Both humble me and make me feel small in a really good way.  Both bring me to a place of awe and wonder.  Both are really good for my soul.  And for that week in March, I loved being in the mountains.  

Over our March Break we were spoiled with sights of daffodils, bright blue skies, trees beginning to bloom, robins singing, butterflies (Beth counted 11 that she alone saw), sun on the skin (is there a better feeling?) and warm air.  We soaked it all up.  Ahhh.

 If that wasn't enough of a gift, we came home to spring weather:  windows open, snowsuits away, Easter decorations out, it's time to wash the car.  It almost made me want to start some spring cleaning.  Almost.  Now if this week could just warm up a bit...:)

Iron Lady

This past Friday night while everyone else was lined up to go and see Hunger Games, I dragged my husband along with me to see The Iron Lady.  We may or may not have been the youngest people in the theatre.  The Iron Lady is the story of Margaret Thatcher, the first and only female Prime Minister of Great Britain (from 1979-1990).

The history lover in me combined with my own british roots as well as fond memories of the year I spent in England as an 18/19 year old were all motivating factors to why I would want to see this particular movie.

While the movie was a wee bit slow and my husband fought drifting off to sleep at times, I personally found her story quite fascinating and inspiring.   It also made me want to drink a cup of tea.

There was this one great line that I hope will stay with me for a long time.  The price of admission was worth it for this quote alone:

"Watch your thoughts for they become words. Watch your words for they become actions. Watch your actions for they become... habits. Watch your habits, for they become your character. And watch your character, for it becomes your destiny! What we think we become."

Margaret Thatcher

Nicknames

My family is all about nicknames.  Let me clarify, I am all about nicknames.  Always have been.

To me, it's a term of endearment.

It began with my siblings.  Increased with time.  I gave my youngest brother the most.

I continued this tradition with my girls.

Grace quickly became "my little muffin", "muffy", "Gracie","Gracey-dee","Gracer"," GJ".

For Eva, it was "my little cupcake", "cuppy", "Evie", "Ever the beaver", "Beebs".

And last but not least, Beth became "Bethie" and then, "Beps" after she began referring to herself as "Beppy".

These names don't even include the ones Steve has made up over the years.

My girls have even nicknamed their younger cousins.

Term of love and affection, right?

How do you feel about nicknames?  Do you give them to the people that you love?

Family Day Weekend

For all kinds of really great reasons, the weekends leading up to Family Day weekend were really busy.

As we looked at our calendar for the Family Day long weekend, we realized that we didn't have many plans and as the weekend got closer, we made the radical (for us) choice to keep it that way.  Other than an overnight Grace had planned, a long awaited breakfast date that I had on Saturday morning with girlfriends, Church on Sunday and skating on Monday afternoon, our weekend was pretty open.

This weekend turned out to be fantastic.  Can you believe I told Steve that I think I enjoyed it more than Christmas holidays?  Friends spontaneously dropped by on Friday night for a couple of hours.  Steve had time to work on the construction of our new mudroom.  We rented movies.  Planned spontaneous friend sleepovers for the girls.  Tried 2 new dinner recipes that were BIG hits (and that is saying a lot!).  Napped.  Skated.  Walked.  Hung out and rested.  The fact that the sun was shining was pure bonus.  I feel like my soul was enlarged this weekend and I actually feel refreshed.  Tonight my cup feels full.

Going into this weekend, I was praying for God's peace to rule in our family.  Peace that would permeate and settle in deeply - in our home, in our hearts and minds, in our conversations and so on.  My hope and dream for the weekend was that we would "ruthlessly eliminate hurry from our lives".  It was a quote I had heard from a study our Mom's group had done a few years back ( I believe the credit goes to John Ortberg).  That was my prayer for the weekend.  And God delivered big time.

More and more, I'm seeing the value in taking time to slow down, rest, create margin and leave room for the unexpected and spontaneous.  One of my goals for 2012 is to do more of it:)

Happy Family Day!

p.s.  the recipes I mentioned can be found here and here.

A recap of 2011

Well friends, I've taken a bit of a blogging break.  It's fun to be back.  But, before I can go forward with 2012, I need to quickly reflect on and say good-bye to 2011.  Is it too late to do an end of 2011 survey?  I hope not.  I saw this on babybangs and thought it was such a great idea. Thanks, Amanda.

1. What did you do in 2011 that you'd never done before?

Disney ( first time for the 5 of us)

I sent my baby girl to JK.

Travelled with my husband and good friends to Mexico and left the girls with Gran for 8 days.

2. Did you keep your New Year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

I didn't make any resolutions last year.  However, I wrote out and submitted to God five big dreams that I had for 2011.  At the time of writing them out and praying about them, they seemed huge and impossible.  They were the kind of things that only God could accomplish.  I had forgotten about this 'list' and came across it recently, only to discover that  two of the five dreams have come to be a reality and the other three have come leaps and bounds in the last 12 months.  Those three are the kind of dreams/goals that are harder to measure, nonetheless I was encouraged and thrilled to note the huge progress.  Only God.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

Yes.  My sister, Lauren gave birth to her firstborn, Harper Ava, born on July 7th.  My sister-in-law gave birth to her second born, Callie Evelyn, born on November 25th.  Both are adorable:)

4. Did anyone close to you die?

No.

5. What countries did you visit?

USA - Orlando ( family vacation)  and Chicago ( for the Global Leadership Summit at Willow Creek).
Mexico with Jeff and Becky.

6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011?

More peace - less hurry.  More quality family time.

7. What dates from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory?

*Mother's Day
*My friend, Shelley's baptism.


8. What was your biggest achievement for the year?

Sending Beth to Junior Kindergarten and convincing my husband to leave the kids and fly to Mexico with me for 8 days!  Oh and helping my husband find a new job.  That was huge.


9. What was your biggest failure?

Being ruled at times by fear.
Taking responsibility for things that were not mine.
Overreacting.  Blowing things out of proportion.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

Thankfully, no.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

*Together with my Dad and my siblings, we bought 2 plane tickets to bring my Mom's 2 nieces over from Scotland to surprise her for her birthday/Mother's Day.  Priceless.

*A kiva loan.

12. Where did most of your money go?

Not sure!  Probably on the kids:)

13. What did you get really excited about?

Eldering, VMB adoption, taking the girls to the Magic Kingdom (Disney), becoming an aunt again.

14. What song will always remind you of 2011?

Pretty much anything by Adele.

15. Compared to this time last year, are you:
-Happier or sadder?

Happier.

-Thinner or fatter?

Not thinner.

-Richer or poorer?

Little bit poorer in terms of money, but way richer in terms of quality.
I am hesitant to even use the word, "poorer", feels wrong considering we are all so rich compared to the majority of the world (http://www.globalrichlist.com/).

16. What do you wish you'd done more of?

Exercise, pray, had people over for dinner, slow down, simplify, be fully present, spoke words of affirmation to the people closest to me.

17. What do you wish you'd done less of?

Fear, hurry, panic, fear conflict, overreacting, people pleasing.

18. How did you spend Christmas?

We spent Christmas morning and the early part of the afternoon at home as a family.  Opening presents, making breakfast, playing with new toys and games and resting.  We spent the latter part of the afternoon and the evening preparing and serving dinner at the homeless shelter at our church.  This is the second year we have done this as a family and it has become a beautiful tradition.

We spent time with our extended family on the 24th, 26th and 27th.  This was our third year being home on Christmas Day and we loved it.  I've learned that Christmas is not just about celebrating one day, but rather the season. Less rushing, less hectic and more quality time and meaning has been our goal in all of this.

19. What was your favorite TV program?

Parenthood and more recently, Friday Night Lights.

20. What were your favorite books of the year?

Secret Daughter
the Help


21. What was your favorite music this year?

Nothing really stands out to me....

22. What were your favorite films of the year?

I can't think of any...must get out more in 2012!

23. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

My birthday is 5 days before Christmas and it turned out that it was Steve's work Christmas party that night.  My parents hung out with the girls and we celebrated with Steve's work gang.  I turned 39.  Yikes!

24. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

um...hard to answer.

25. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011?

Casual - but I love my accessories...scarves, shoes, boots, jewelry and or course MAC lipstick.

26. What kept you sane?

God....and my husband.

27. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011.

Well, there are 3.


1.  Love always trusts.  Always assume the best and not the worst of people.  Give others the benefit of the doubt.  Life goes way better this way.


2.  God is trustworthy.  He's good.  He is for me and not against me. He is worthy of all of my confidence.  I have nothing to fear.  The things He teaches us in the dark times and in the waiting are pure gold.  He is my provider.  He is my everything.  He is worthy of all my trust.  His ways are good.  He is good.   I'm learning to trust him in ways like never before.  I'm allowing him to anchor me and grow my roots deeper.  To center me.  So thankful for this life lesson.


3.  No one else can live my life for me.  I must find my own voice and my own path and calling and live it wholeheartedly.  It's time to stop apologizing and regretting past mistakes and downplaying my strengths and it's time to shine.  It's time to use my voice and speak up.  It's time to be ruled by love and not fear.  It's time to embrace my calling, to rise up and to be comfortable in my own skin.  It's time to cheer others on to live their best life and to soar.  

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from our home to yours!

May your holiday season be filled with rest and renewal.  Memories and belonging.  Joy and hope.  Generosity and compassion.  Celebrate traditions.  Create new memories.  Let's slow down and savour these days.  May we create space for the things that matter most.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.  
John 1:14

Better World Shopper

With Christmas coming and all, I gotta tell you about one of my favourite websites.  The information on this site is changing the way that I shop.  The truth is that we vote with our wallets.  If you're anything like me, I want to be more and more a part of the solution and less and less a part of the problem.

BETTER WORLD SHOPPER is a site dedicated to providing people with a comprehensive, up-to-date, reliable account of the social and environmental responsibility of every company on the planet AND making it available in practical forms that individuals can use in their everyday lives. Coming out of more than 5 years of intensive research, this work is based on a comprehensive database of over 1000 companies and utilizes 25+ reliable sources of data to cover everything from the environment to human rights, community development to animal protection (taken from website).

Companies and Products are given a grade, based on the following 5 areas of criteria:

Check out the website at www.betterworldshopper.com.  The website is so informative.  There is also an app you can download to your phone or a book that you order through the website.  I just got my hands on the book.  Really great stuff!

Buckeyes

Last Christmas, I tasted these delicious treats and found out they were called Buckeye's.  I googled the recipe and this year I decided to try making them.  They were soooo easy and so yummy.  Like the kind of yummy that is hard to share, if you can relate.  If you're looking for another recipe this Christmas season, this one is so worth checking out:)

Buckeyes 
By: Tammy Winters


"This recipe is so good that I double it whenever I make it. Since it is peanut butter balls dipped in chocolate it is almost like candy. Real buckeyes are nuts that grow on trees and are related to the horse chestnut."


Original Recipe Yields 5 dozen
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups peanut butter
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 cups confectioners' sugar
4 cups semisweet chocolate chips


Directions
In a large bowl, mix together the peanut butter, butter, vanilla and confectioners' sugar. The dough will look dry. Roll into 1 inch balls and place on a waxed paper-lined cookie sheet.
Press a toothpick into the top of each ball (to be used later as the handle for dipping) and chill in freezer until firm, about 30 minutes.
Melt chocolate chips in a double boiler or in a bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water. Stir frequently until smooth.
Dip frozen peanut butter balls in chocolate holding onto the toothpick. Leave a small portion of peanut butter showing at the top to make them look like Buckeyes. Put back on the cookie sheet and refrigerate until serving.

source:  www.allrecipes.com

How about you?  What are you baking this Christmas?

And the winners are...

And the winners of the Jesus Storybook Bible are:

Kristal and Krista.  Congratulations!  I'll be in touch to get those to you asap:)

Kristal -This Bible looks great! We were planning on buying Maja a Bible for Christmas, but haven't gotten it yet! And of course, Callie would enjoy hearing stories with her big sister :)

Krista - This book looks beautiful! I was just at the Christian book store the other night looking for a bible for Lauren as a Christmas gift. This one looks perfect. Thanks for mentioning it :)

I used www.random.org to choose the winners, which was just as well, because after I read all of the comments, I wanted to give all of you a bible:)

If you didn't win and would still love to own a copy or purchase one as a gift, you can do so here.  It would make a great Christmas gift :)

And don't worry!  If you didn't win this time, I've got another giveaway planned for the New Year - from Dr. Ellis Jones at Better World Shopper.  Fun!

TOMS

Check out this early birthday present that was shipped to my house this afternoon.



TOMS - Black Stone-Washed Cord Women's Classics

I've had my eye on a pair of TOMS for some time (pretty much since I heard Blake Mycoskie speak at the 2010 Global Leadership Summit).  Everyone is chatting about how comfy and stylish they are.  The  best part is that when you buy a pair of TOMS, you actually purchase 2 pairs of shoes.  One pair for yourself and one pair is given to a child in need in the developing world.

Here's what is written on TOMS website:

One for One Movement

In 2006, American traveler Blake Mycoskie befriended children in Argentina and found they had no shoes to protect their feet. Wanting to help, he created TOMS, a company that would match every pair of shoes purchased with a pair of new shoes given to a child in need. One for One. Blake returned to Argentina with a group of family, friends and staff later that year with 10,000 pairs of shoes made possible by TOMS customers.

Why Shoes?

Many children in developing countries grow up barefoot. Whether at play, doing chores or going to school, these children are at risk:

•A leading cause of disease in developing countries is soil-transmitted diseases, which can penetrate the skin through bare feet. Wearing shoes can help prevent these diseases, and the long-term physical and cognitive harm they cause.

•Wearing shoes also prevents feet from getting cuts and sores. Not only are these injuries painful, they also are dangerous when wounds become infected.

•Many times children can't attend school barefoot because shoes are a required part of their uniform. If they don't have shoes, they don't go to school. If they don't receive an education, they don't have the opportunity to realize their potential.

Check out this short video about the One for One Movement:

If you have Christmas presents to buy, a pair of TOMS would be so great.  You can buy them for men, women, kids and even toddlers.  Or there's always a TOMS gift card :)

As you can see, I am in love.  Check out www.TOMS.ca

Jesus Storybook Bible - a review and a giveaway!

These days I am loving reading to my four year old at bedtime.  (I'm embarrassed to say that that hasn't always been the case...sometimes I feel like I have nothing left by the end of the day!).

Over the last little while, I have heard raving reviews about the Jesus Storybook Bible.  I had been looking for a bible for Beth and am so glad I got my hands on this one.  It has really revived our bedtime routine.  Yay!

It's beautifully written.

I love the illustrations.

So bright and colourful!

I had really wanted something for Beth to help her really understand the central message of scripture, and to read with her at bedtime.

Here's how the Storybook Bible is described on the website:

Written for children ages four and up, The Jesus Storybook Bible tells the one story underneath all the stories of the Bible and points to the birth of a child, the Rescuer, Jesus. Complete with 44 Bible stories, The Jesus Storybook Bible paints a beautiful portrait of Jesus and invites children to see that he is not only at the center of God’s great story of redemption—he is at the center of their story too. Children and adults alike will be captivated by the beautifully written narrative and the original and unique illustrations by accomplished artist Jago. Lloyd-Jones’ powerful gift of storytelling draws the reader into the greatest adventure of all time in an exciting page-turner that kids (and adults) find hard to put down.


Sally Lloyd-Jones is a leading writer of inspirational books for children and is an expert at conveying biblical truth to young children. She is the author of three bestselling children’s Bibles, including the Gold Book Award-winning Baby’s First Bible and, most recently, the Moonbeam Award Winner The Jesus Storybook Bible. She has written many picture books for children, including Handbag Friends, Time to Say Goodnight, and the critically acclaimed How to Be a Baby: By Me, the Big Sister. 

On a whim, I contacted the publishers at Zondervan and they provided me with 2 bibles to giveaway on my blog!  Just in time for Christmas.

To be entered in the draw, just leave a comment with your name below.  Let me know who you would love to read/give this book to :)

You have until next Friday, December 9th, at midnight, to enter, and you can only enter once. The winners will be chosen randomly. I'll announce the winners the next day, so be sure to check back then.

I'll post the two winners on Saturday December 10th.

Best of luck!

"Hammy"

So, my 10 year old daughter just bought her first pet.  It was her 10th birthday and all she wanted to do was buy a hamster.  Using the birthday money she received from her Nana, she bought her hamster and all of the hampster necessities (which ironically btw cost more than triple what the hamster cost!).  She named this little creature, "Pebbles Chrysanthemum".  However for some reason, I can't stop calling the little girl critter, "Hammy".  So as far as I am concerned, "Hammy" it is.  What is it about me, I can't seem to call anyone by their actual name?  I insist on making up names for people - my siblings, my kids, my neices and so on.

Anyways, this was a huge deal for Eva.  We don't have any pets and she has been longing for a pet pretty much since she could talk.

In the summer, she "hamster-sat" her friend Kira's hamster for 2 weeks.  Talking about it recently, she told me, "Mom, those 2 weeks were the best 2 weeks of my life."  She was dead serious.

On Eva's birthday last week, here is a conversation that we had first thing in the morning.   I couldn't resist sharing it.  Sometimes I wish I could get on video some of the things that come out of this girls's mouth.  Priceless.  It went like this:


Me :  how's hammy this morning?

Birthday Girl:  dead as a doorknob.

Me:  pardon?

BG:  dead as a doorknob.

Me:  pardon?

BG:  Mom, it's just an expression.  Means she is fast asleep.

Me:  makes sense.  She had a big ordeal last night.  I'm sure moving her from the pet store to our house was pretty tramatic and even stressful for her.

BG:  Mom.  Are you kidding?  Yesterday was the greatest day of Pebbles life.  The day every hamster dreams of.

Me:  Speechless.