We Have 2 Winners!

Congratulations to our Holiday Giving winners!

Giveaway #1 featuring Forking Queen

Winner:  Alicia K

Giveaway #2 featuring Aalbers Creations

Winner:  Rachel M. 

Thanks to all who entered and WELCOME to those of you who are new!

I look forward to hearing from you again soon.

Winners have been contacted.  

In the event they do not respond, 

new winners will be chosen Wednesday morning.

Holiday Giving (A Giveaway) #2

Have you entered Holiday Giving (A Giveaway) #1?

  Be sure to head over there and get the back story on both this and that giveaway.

Holiday Giving (A Giveaway) #2

One Item of Your Choice (up to $40 value) 

from Aalbers Creations shop on Etsy.

So, this is my sister Kimberly!  Over the past 3 years she has created herself a business doing exactly what she loves.  Using 1000x more creativity than I was ever born with, she makes beautiful accessories for girls and their mom's and then travels the Renaissance fair circuit donning her wares (okay, super cheesy, I know, but that is what she does).  

Every item you'll find on her Etsy page is hand-sewn, hand-painted, or self-designed.  She dresses her girls in all her own creations, and they beg her to give them painted fairy faces almost every day.  Looking around you'll find a huge range of items from wings and fairy costumes...

 

to play tents and crowns...

 

to leg warmers and bibs...

 

I know you'll love looking through her shop on Etsy!  Check out the entry form below and let me know what you would choose!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Haven't checked out Holiday Giving (A Giveaway #1) yet?  

Head over there now and get your entries in!

Giveaway being sponsored across my blogging gamut.  

All entry forms will be combined to choose one winner for each giveaway.

Prizes are being offered at no cost or benefit to me.  Just a good sisterly deed.

Holiday Giving (A Giveaway) #1

We started December with good intentions of giving service this month and focusing on other people instead of ourselves and I think we've been doing okay.  After delivering our mailbox treats we've brought our neighbor's trash bins back up to the house on trash day, chose chores to help each other out with in our own house, and helped all the "big guys" put away chairs after church on Sunday.  Today, I want to offer two-fold service by supporting two of my sisters and their businesses and giving you the chance to win something fun and beautiful for the holidays!

Holiday Giving Giveaway #1

(okay, I tried to find a picture of my sister Brooke to post,

 but 1) I couldn't and 2) she would have killed me! :)

One item of your choice at

Forking Queen on Etsy

(up to $50 value, or $50 credit can be used 

towards 1 item of higher value)

Forking Queen is the business my sister Brooke started doing about 7 years ago.  She started out creating unique silverware jewelry pieces like these:

Now she's expanded with a "Leather and Lead" brand:

and some other really beautiful things! 

 Take a look around her Etsy shop and then get your entries for an item (up to $50 value) in below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Ready to win a second prize?  

Be sure to enter our Holiday Giving (A Giveaway) #2!

Giveaway being sponsored across my blogging gamut.  

All entry forms will be combined to choose one winner for each giveaway.

Prizes are being offered at no cost or benefit to me.  Just a good sisterly deed. 

Card Game Math

A couple weeks ago I mentioned that we had started working on addition and was worried about doing it right.  Since then, I've found a couple ways to make the "plus 1, plus 2," fun.  Today I'm sharing a variation on the classic "Go Fish."

First, we decided how many cards to play with.  My poor little guy could not quite fit 7 cards in his hand, so we settled on 5.  Even then, it was a bit of a struggle and we had a good lesson on spreading out the cards.

Instead of asking for matches, like in regular "Go Fish", the object of this game was to ask for the "+1".  Beck had to look at the cards in his hand and then ask me for a card that would equal his card plus one.  It took a lot of concentrating and turned into a good lesson on sequencing as he started at one side of his hand of cards and thought about the +1 for each card all the way across.

Similar pictures, I know, but this is pretty much how he looked the whole time we were playing

At first we were only laying down cards when we had a "+1".  For example, if he had a 2 and asked me for a 3, he would lay down that pair.  It was taking forever.  So we started looking for "+1's" in our hand before asking the other player.  It helped to be able to lay down "+1" pairs before we even asked the other person. And even though we were replenishing our hands to 5 after each turn, the game went much, much faster!

You might be able to tell from the look on his face that Beck didn't really like this game.  He started out confused why he couldn't ask for matches, got frustrated when he couldn't spread out and see all his cards, and then just got bored.  But, I think it's a great way to work on his math skills and we should be able to adapt it for "+2" and "+3" as well.  First, I'll definitely figure out a way to make holding the cards a little easier!

Cool New Website Find

Tiny Post #3

I found a fantastic new website and blog this week that just make me happy!

Did the song start playing in your head as soon as you read the name?  I've walked around all week brushing my hands over my nose in what must look like swatting a fly.  I love it!

The website has really good ideas for schooling and parenting and just having fun with your kids, AND great giveaways.  I can say that because I won TWO of them this week!  These are the things on the way to my mailbox...

12 Days of Christmas Fold-Out Book

Zoob Building Set

Go check them out (http://waddleeahchaa.com/daily-blog/).  I think you'll like it!

No Time For Gingerbread

My kids and I alike have found that we have little patience for making actual gingerbread houses. Later in the season we will make mini graham cracker models, but I can admit it's not quite the same. A few years ago I discovered these cute paper gingerbread houses, though, and now they have a loving place all their own each year on our Christmas tree.

Gingerbread Houses

Head over to We Love To Illustrate to download these adorable templates.

What is your gingerbread tradition?

You might also like our foldable Pilgrim & Indian Dolls

A Series of Little Posts

It's holiday time and try as I might, I can't help being busy.  Perhaps you'll appreciate a few upcoming tiny posts from me-short writing, shorter reading. They're going to go a little like this...

Handwriting Practice

Click here for Dear Santa Template 

What creative ways do you get your kids to practice their letters?

Holiday Giving: Our Surprise in the Mailbox

I wrote on my other blog a few weeks ago about how much I DREAD the arrival of the holiday toy catalogs in the mail.  The moment they enter the front door is the last moment I have any quiet until Christmas is over. The air is constantly filled with, "I want, I want, I want!!!"  Leading up to Thanksgiving, I try to help everyone in our family to focus on the blessing of things we have instead of things we want.  It is usually pretty successful, and if I try hard to carry that over through the Christmas season, the "I Want's" die down to a manageable rate.

Throughout December the boys and I  focus our thoughts and energy on the simplicity of giving to other people instead of the intensity of keeping our Santa lists up-to-date.  This has been one of our favorite activities...

The Recipients:  The people who live on our street

The Activity:  Make & Deliver a small treat 

The Goal:  Add a joyful surprise to the mundane task of getting the mail.

Here's how we did it:

First, we counted out 10 chocolate squares, & 10 candy canes, then glued the top of the chocolate squares...

 ...and put the candy canes on top...

Next we tied ribbon around the candy "package". I would advise making sure the ribbons are long enough for a new knot-tier and then trim them up.

 Always let the kids choose a comfortable place to work...

The last step in creating our mailbox surprises was cutting out the tags and tying them on top. I used these tags, but also really liked these ones...

NOW ON TO THE DELIVERY!!!

My boys understand the concept of doing nice things for other people, but still, they're young.   I did want them to feel the reward at the end and had promised they could have some after we'd made our deliveries.  Still they were whine and beg to eat chocolate and candy canes. My ears bleed with the racket and I almost always prematurely decide the activity was an epic fail.  BUT, the minute we walk out the door, their whole attitude changes!  They get giddy, running from mailbox to mailbox and wanting to make SURE they don't miss anybody.  They get sad when a mailbox is empty, because that means the neighbor has already picked up their mail for the day.  I've caught them peeking out the window the next day to make sure those people get their goodies!

 I'd love to hear how you help your little ones understand the joy of giving or have you share this post with someone looking to add more giving into their holiday season!