Monday, November 29, 2010
Family Photos
So Sunday we headed out to get some family pictures done! And so I thought I'd pretty them up a bit and share. Enjoy =)
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Happy Thanksgiving!
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone out there (well, at least in the US today!) =) I hope today was a great day for you and you were able to spend it with people you love.
And a huge thank you to those of you who keep coming back to read my ramblings. I know it seems cheesy, but I really do mean it!
=)
And a huge thank you to those of you who keep coming back to read my ramblings. I know it seems cheesy, but I really do mean it!
=)
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
77Kids Wish4Snow!!
This summer, my family and I had such a great time working with 77Kids on Do Good Day, so when I was contacted to get to work with them again, of course I enthusiastically answered YES!
So this Saturday the girls and I headed on over to Woodfield to see our brand new 77kids Store (Yay! I'm so happy we are getting a 77kids by us! Also, based on what we bought, so are my kids!).
The store was well thought out and well planned out I thought. It seemed to me a stroller could get through most aisles (although I didn't have one to test that out). Right from the front window, the kids were able to "race" skiers down the hill!
Rounded edges on boxes and soft surfaces where they could put them
The girls dressing room door - possibly my 11 year old's favorite part of the store, has an opening so I could look in and see her trying stuff on without her having to walk out in front of other shoppers!
(and yes, we did buy that cardigan and cute shirt for her!)
My 8 year old's favorite part - the picture maker where she took and decorated (on screen) several pictures! The kids can then hang them up in the store or take them home. We left some there and brought some home - so fun!
There is even a bathroom and water fountain in teh store - and although my 4 year old wasn't with us, that water fountain would make the trip so much bearable. He's always thirsty and always wants water. So, I think they kind of thought of everything. LOL!
But, as with this summer, 77kids is doing more than just selling clothes. They are raising money for Children's Memorial Hospital! If you donate 77 cents (or more) you get a snowflake to hang up in the store.
Both my girls decided to donate a dollar and got to hang up their snowflake wish! But wait! There's more (why yes, that is my infomercial voice coming out! LOL!)
Can't get to the store? No problem, you can create a snowflake on like. If we can all go on and create 100,000 snowflakes, our hospital will get a $25,000 donations! We've already made a couple at our house to try to get the count up (just a bit ago it was at 6,484 so we need to get going on our snowflakes!!).
It's so easy, and each day you make a snowflake you are entered to win a 77kids giftcard through the site. In addition to that I'm having a giveaway too!
You can win a $50.00 77kids giftcard here! To enter all you have to do is create a snowflake at 77kids' Wish4Snow site! After you make your snowflake, come back and let me know what you wished for and the e-mail address you registered with! {With this info I can go and see all of your beautiful snowflakes! Yay!}
Make 10 snowflakes? Come back and tell me 10 times! Make 20 snowflakes, come back 20 times!
After making a snowflake, you can earn another entry by following 77kids on twitter. Just follow them, then come back here and let me know you did (and your twitter name just in case I'm not following you already, I can start!)
After all of that, head on over and like 77kids on facebook for another entry!
With all your entries, please make sure I have a way to contact you (e-mail/twitter/etc) so I can contact you if you win! You'll have 24 hours to respond with your mailing address so we can get your giftcard shipped out to you! The contest will run through midnight, Saturday December 4!
The snowflakes are really fun to make and you can get your kids involved too! They can create some and leave some wishes for the world. My oldest wished for peace and my 8yo wished for a place for every kid to live safely! I think this can be a great way to give back all while having fun!
Not a requirement (and no extra entries), but I'd love it if you'd share this with your readers, facebook friends, and twitter followers - let's get to 100,000 snowflakes so that Children's Memorial can get the $25,000 donation because that's really the most important thing here!
* Disclosure: I was compensated by TheMotherhood and 77Kids to participate in this promotion and host the giveaway. As always, all opinions expressed are purely mine =)
Comments closed as contest is now over! Thanks everyone!
So this Saturday the girls and I headed on over to Woodfield to see our brand new 77kids Store (Yay! I'm so happy we are getting a 77kids by us! Also, based on what we bought, so are my kids!).
The store was well thought out and well planned out I thought. It seemed to me a stroller could get through most aisles (although I didn't have one to test that out). Right from the front window, the kids were able to "race" skiers down the hill!
Rounded edges on boxes and soft surfaces where they could put them
The girls dressing room door - possibly my 11 year old's favorite part of the store, has an opening so I could look in and see her trying stuff on without her having to walk out in front of other shoppers!
My 8 year old's favorite part - the picture maker where she took and decorated (on screen) several pictures! The kids can then hang them up in the store or take them home. We left some there and brought some home - so fun!
There is even a bathroom and water fountain in teh store - and although my 4 year old wasn't with us, that water fountain would make the trip so much bearable. He's always thirsty and always wants water. So, I think they kind of thought of everything. LOL!
But, as with this summer, 77kids is doing more than just selling clothes. They are raising money for Children's Memorial Hospital! If you donate 77 cents (or more) you get a snowflake to hang up in the store.
Both my girls decided to donate a dollar and got to hang up their snowflake wish! But wait! There's more (why yes, that is my infomercial voice coming out! LOL!)
Can't get to the store? No problem, you can create a snowflake on like. If we can all go on and create 100,000 snowflakes, our hospital will get a $25,000 donations! We've already made a couple at our house to try to get the count up (just a bit ago it was at 6,484 so we need to get going on our snowflakes!!).It's so easy, and each day you make a snowflake you are entered to win a 77kids giftcard through the site. In addition to that I'm having a giveaway too!
You can win a $50.00 77kids giftcard here! To enter all you have to do is create a snowflake at 77kids' Wish4Snow site! After you make your snowflake, come back and let me know what you wished for and the e-mail address you registered with! {With this info I can go and see all of your beautiful snowflakes! Yay!}
Make 10 snowflakes? Come back and tell me 10 times! Make 20 snowflakes, come back 20 times!
After making a snowflake, you can earn another entry by following 77kids on twitter. Just follow them, then come back here and let me know you did (and your twitter name just in case I'm not following you already, I can start!)
After all of that, head on over and like 77kids on facebook for another entry!
With all your entries, please make sure I have a way to contact you (e-mail/twitter/etc) so I can contact you if you win! You'll have 24 hours to respond with your mailing address so we can get your giftcard shipped out to you! The contest will run through midnight, Saturday December 4!
The snowflakes are really fun to make and you can get your kids involved too! They can create some and leave some wishes for the world. My oldest wished for peace and my 8yo wished for a place for every kid to live safely! I think this can be a great way to give back all while having fun!
Not a requirement (and no extra entries), but I'd love it if you'd share this with your readers, facebook friends, and twitter followers - let's get to 100,000 snowflakes so that Children's Memorial can get the $25,000 donation because that's really the most important thing here!
* Disclosure: I was compensated by TheMotherhood and 77Kids to participate in this promotion and host the giveaway. As always, all opinions expressed are purely mine =)
Comments closed as contest is now over! Thanks everyone!
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Handmade Holidays
If you've been reading my blog through out the years, you will know that handmade holidays is very dear to my heart.
For the last 3 years as it gets close to Christmas, I sit down and plan on making as many gifts as I can for my family and friends. This year I actually started planning in January! (Although I didn't get a lot of making done until more recently!).
There is something special to me about sitting down and trying to find the perfect thing to make for people, locate patterns/directions/etc or create my own, and all during the process thinking about the person it's going to. Some years, I get some hints (like last year when my mom told my children to tell me she really wanted some hand knit socks for Christmas!).
Now, I haven't successfully figured out how to make something for every single person we give to - and I do know it's special to go out and pick out the most perfect gift, and yet, it is different when you are making it. That isn't mean to lessen the giving of store bought gifts at all - they are just as special, but it's just different. (and since we are on the topic of buying, I do try hard to buy items that have also been handmade, even if not by me! Thanks to craft shows, ebay, etsy and artfire, it's not only fun to see all the wonderful things other are creating but easy to purchase things!)
The first year I made a large portion of my gifts, I admit I was nervous. All crafters have learned that not everyone is not, well, as excited to receive handmade gifts as others. And while no one makes gifts in order to have thanks and praise and compliments lavished upon them, no one makes (or for that matter buys) a gift where the person receiving it kind of gives you "really, that's all" look or worse yet "what in the world is this and why did you give it to me" look. But my fears have been (so far) unfounded. I've learned most of my family and friends not only enjoy getting something handmade but love it. {That said, there are some people who have said things in the past that make me think they won't appreciate it and to save all of us, I have not ever attempted to make them something. Because I genuinely want people to like what we gift them and I don't have enough time to do it all myself!) And in the case of my mom, when they haven't yet receive something handmade, they let me know they would like to!
And that's all lovely and I'm glad that everyone likes getting handmade, but still, I have doubts - are they saying it to be nice. Did they really like it, etc, etc. But this year, this year, all my doubts have been erased. Because not that long ago my 11 year old, in conversation that actually wasn't about the holidays or handmade gifts specifically, said that although she gets lots of great things every year from people, but her favorite gifts are the ones I make for her. And to add to that, both my girls (11 and 8) are planning on making a lot of their gifts this year. Now, I've never made them make things. And have offered to help when they talk about making something here or there, but this is the first year they have tried to do a handmade holiday themselves. And I can't tell you how much that warms my heart. =)
This post is being entered in the Artfire: Win a Canon Rebel XS Digital SLR Camera contest. If you have handmade holiday story or plan to share, I encourage you to go over and enter too - but be quick, the contest ends tomorrow!
For the last 3 years as it gets close to Christmas, I sit down and plan on making as many gifts as I can for my family and friends. This year I actually started planning in January! (Although I didn't get a lot of making done until more recently!).
There is something special to me about sitting down and trying to find the perfect thing to make for people, locate patterns/directions/etc or create my own, and all during the process thinking about the person it's going to. Some years, I get some hints (like last year when my mom told my children to tell me she really wanted some hand knit socks for Christmas!).
Now, I haven't successfully figured out how to make something for every single person we give to - and I do know it's special to go out and pick out the most perfect gift, and yet, it is different when you are making it. That isn't mean to lessen the giving of store bought gifts at all - they are just as special, but it's just different. (and since we are on the topic of buying, I do try hard to buy items that have also been handmade, even if not by me! Thanks to craft shows, ebay, etsy and artfire, it's not only fun to see all the wonderful things other are creating but easy to purchase things!)
The first year I made a large portion of my gifts, I admit I was nervous. All crafters have learned that not everyone is not, well, as excited to receive handmade gifts as others. And while no one makes gifts in order to have thanks and praise and compliments lavished upon them, no one makes (or for that matter buys) a gift where the person receiving it kind of gives you "really, that's all" look or worse yet "what in the world is this and why did you give it to me" look. But my fears have been (so far) unfounded. I've learned most of my family and friends not only enjoy getting something handmade but love it. {That said, there are some people who have said things in the past that make me think they won't appreciate it and to save all of us, I have not ever attempted to make them something. Because I genuinely want people to like what we gift them and I don't have enough time to do it all myself!) And in the case of my mom, when they haven't yet receive something handmade, they let me know they would like to!
And that's all lovely and I'm glad that everyone likes getting handmade, but still, I have doubts - are they saying it to be nice. Did they really like it, etc, etc. But this year, this year, all my doubts have been erased. Because not that long ago my 11 year old, in conversation that actually wasn't about the holidays or handmade gifts specifically, said that although she gets lots of great things every year from people, but her favorite gifts are the ones I make for her. And to add to that, both my girls (11 and 8) are planning on making a lot of their gifts this year. Now, I've never made them make things. And have offered to help when they talk about making something here or there, but this is the first year they have tried to do a handmade holiday themselves. And I can't tell you how much that warms my heart. =)
This post is being entered in the Artfire: Win a Canon Rebel XS Digital SLR Camera contest. If you have handmade holiday story or plan to share, I encourage you to go over and enter too - but be quick, the contest ends tomorrow!
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Random Stuff
For lack of much to write about, I'll share some random notes with you all!
*I finished all the Harry Potter books. Definitely worth the re-read. There's so much I forgot from them, especially teh earlier books. Today I start watching all the movies!
*I bought all our tickets for the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 already and am going tomorrow at midnight. Yes, I'm very excited. Yes, I'm a nerd and I might be wearing a Harry Potter shirt because, well, I can LOL!
*I've been knitting away like mad, but can't show you any pictures until after Christmas! Maybe I'll try to do some sneak peek shots if I can.
*My oldest has discovered sewing and is loving it. She's working on her second bag as I type! Very fun! And I'm glad she is enjoying it!
*My 8yo also took a sewing class and loves it too - not into it as much as 10yo though. Which is fabulous too. As long as she's happy, I'm happy ;-)
*Craft Day Saturday was fabulous! Another one is coming up in December. If it goes as well, I will definitely make this a regular occurrence! I think more people need days like that, so if you can host one, I think you should! =)
Okay, that's a good summary of what's going on around these parts for now. Watch for some fun news on Saturday - and a GREAT give-away if I do say so myself is coming up! Yay!
*I finished all the Harry Potter books. Definitely worth the re-read. There's so much I forgot from them, especially teh earlier books. Today I start watching all the movies!
*I bought all our tickets for the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 already and am going tomorrow at midnight. Yes, I'm very excited. Yes, I'm a nerd and I might be wearing a Harry Potter shirt because, well, I can LOL!
*I've been knitting away like mad, but can't show you any pictures until after Christmas! Maybe I'll try to do some sneak peek shots if I can.
*My oldest has discovered sewing and is loving it. She's working on her second bag as I type! Very fun! And I'm glad she is enjoying it!
*My 8yo also took a sewing class and loves it too - not into it as much as 10yo though. Which is fabulous too. As long as she's happy, I'm happy ;-)
*Craft Day Saturday was fabulous! Another one is coming up in December. If it goes as well, I will definitely make this a regular occurrence! I think more people need days like that, so if you can host one, I think you should! =)
Okay, that's a good summary of what's going on around these parts for now. Watch for some fun news on Saturday - and a GREAT give-away if I do say so myself is coming up! Yay!
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